All About Food 以食为"仙"

Have you tried eating egg this way?

2008-12-01T16:13:00.003+08:00

When I was a kid, eating steamboat at home was something I looked forward to. The thought of cooking and eating at the same time thrilled me because, well, I can play with cooking! The other thing I enjoyed with the steamboat was the egg. My parents would lay the net ladle (dunno what it's called but you can refer to the picture) with green leaves, then beat open an egg and place it onto the leaves. After that, lower the whole ladle into the steamboat and let the egg cooked for a while. Before the egg got fully cooked, remove the ladle from the steamboat and, bingo, here's a half-boiled egg. I would add soy sauce and pepper to it. For a long time, I had not done that already, until recently, I decided to do it again...during my 2 steamboat sessions. Mmmm....a great sense of satisfaction.

I love to watch eggs being cooked. Waiting anxiously for my eggy to be partially cooked.

Almost ready!!! Yum Yum...

Singapore Ayam Penyet

2008-11-28T21:04:00.005+08:00

Following my ayam penyet meal in Batam, I have been wanting to try it in Singapore again (again, meaning those pre-Batam ones were not nice). So this afternoon, I was at the ABC Food Centre (that's somewhere Queensway or Alexandra) and noticed there are many Muslim stalls and I think more than one of them are selling ayam penyet. I will probably try from different stalls each time I am there.

This is the rice and soup. The rice is actually chicken rice. The soup is pretty nice. I think it comes from some chicken stock they have used to cook the chicken.

The ayam (chicken) is much bigger than the one we had in Batam. This looks like the chicken thigh. The sambal is great too, though not as spicy as the one I had in Batam. But if you were to force me to make a choice between this and the Batam one, I still prefer the Batam ayam penyet. There was also a piece of toufu and er...that famous malay snack (can't remember what is it called) but I didn't like the taste of it.

Here's the full set. Heeheehee.....

Interesting stuff from Taiwan

2008-11-26T20:17:00.002+08:00

A colleague gave me this which she had bought from Taiwan. Doesn't the look and packing look like something we women use? Heeheehee....At first, I thought it's really that - just a different version. Finally, I realise it's actually mashmallow.

Understand there is a shop that sells very unique stuff like this. Mmmm....wish I can go and take a look.

Steamboat buffet at coffeeshop

2008-11-24T20:58:00.003+08:00

Decided to have dinner at this AMK coffeeshop (the one that sells the popular tiptop curry puffs) that has steamboat buffet. They have been here for more than 10 years, I think and this is probably the second or third time I patronized. Each pax costs $12 and children $6. There are 3 types of soup base for you to choose: chicken, herbal and tomyam (additional $3 required).

Just getting started. Here's our chicken soup base steamboat. My targets for the night were prawns, fishballs and tung hoon.

Healthy choice eh?

Here you go...my targets!! All in all, I had taken 16 prawns most of which were consumed by me. I ate more than 10 fishballs, I think. Decided to take a few pieces of pig liver to try. But didn't quite like it. Got a funny taste. So just ate one piece. Oh, there was also cockles which only Dad ate.

Remnants of what we had taken. I also had my unforgettable half boiled egg. I remember when I was younger and had steamboat at home with mum and dad, I would look forward to having this half-boiled egg - using the 'net', we would lay it with some green vege leaves, then beat an egg into it before dipping the whole thing into the soup. Once half-boiled, will remove from the soup and place it into the bowl, add pepper and light soy sauce and finally....SLURP! It's something I had been waiting for eagerly each time we had steamboat at home. So, i decided to do it again tonight. Mmmm....so nice and satisfying. Should have taken a pic!!!

This still wasn't the end. I think only the end of the first round only. My prawn shells had piled up into a little mountain when we were done. I was proud of myself.

Worth it, I thought. And of course, I was happy to have a variety of choices!

I am not sure if I am seeking comfort eating. Hahahaha....

Delifrance has joined in the delivery business

2008-11-24T16:58:00.002+08:00

Just received a leaflet from delifrance advertising its delivery services. Mmmm...the menu looks tempting but I still think it's expensive lo.

Am wondering what does 'All Day Breakfast' mean? Meaning you can order this breakfast set throughout the day? Or does it mean to say you can order this breakfast set everyday?? Hmmm...

If I am tempted enough, I will go for the delivery.

Good dinner with good pal

2008-11-22T15:04:00.002+08:00

Good dinner relative to the presence of my good pal. I don't mean to say the food is good, literally. Hahahaha...

Both of us had sandwiches, one was the mushroom while I took the ham and cheese kind. Suppose to be simple and good, but I thought they added some funny things into the sandwiches (eg fried onions, some weird sauce) which I didn't really appreciate. The only thing on the table I enjoyed was my cranberry juice.

Salad for sharing. My pal, Irene seemed to be crazy with veggies of late. Every meal we had, she would not forget to order soemthing veggie.

Mmm, this should be the mushroom. The mushroom was ok but I really cannot stand the fried onions.

My ham (or was it called something else) and cheese sandwich. Looked tempting? To me, no! Again, dunno what kind of sauce they added in which didn't really suit my taste.

And where did we have all these? New York New York at AMK Hub.

A good lunch at Hog's Breath Cafe

2008-11-22T14:55:00.002+08:00

Had decided to spend a relaxing lunch with Elys, so we decided we shall go have a good one at Hog's Breath @ Holland Village. The food's good. The soup's served in mug rather than bowl! Anyway, we had the set lunch but I think I didn't take a picture of the soup and the dessert (mine's a mudpie!!)

Elys went for this steak. I tried a small piece and quite like it. This was the first time I tried steak and actually like it. There wasn't any funny taste and it's really tender! I may just pick up the courage to order a set for myself next time I go to this cafe.

Mine's this terriyaki chicken. Tasted good and the mashed potato was real cool (Elys' french fries is very nice too, hehehe). Just a joke - look at the mashed potato, had it been brownish in colour, guess what it would look like.

All in all, nice lunch. And nice chat.

Tim Sum Lunch

2008-11-15T15:39:00.005+08:00

I have been craving for tim sum lately. Was comtemplating going for early morning traditional tim sum breakfast at Red Star (Havelock Rd). However, Red Star is quite far and we don't have the energy to go that far today, so we settled for a tim sum lunch at Crystal Jade at J8.

Guess I don't have to 'introduce' the dishes as they are the most common tim sum items ordered. Of the few dishes above, I love the chicken feet and glutinous rice most. The fried chilli is also fantastic. The total cost for this meal is about S$44 (about 8 dishes in all).

Quite a satisfying meal. My craving fulfilled at last. Mmm....

A Golden Lunch

2008-11-15T15:28:00.002+08:00

Here's my colleague's birthday lunch at Sushi Tei (Holland Village). Her order looked very interesting, tempting and absolutely delicious. It's called the Golden Roll (I think).

The Golden Roll is sushi with big prawnie, mango and fish roe. Definitely felt juicy. There is another version, ie replacing mango with avocado. I must give it a try next time. This sushi is about S$14. Worth a try.

And Happy Birthday, Man-Man.

Recipe for Stir Fried Silver Needle Noodles with Shrimps

2008-11-10T20:32:00.003+08:00

I tried this dish yesterday, from my cooking book for filipino helper. It's a simple dish. I thought it's not bad for a simple dish, but it tasted much better if eaten with chilli padi in light soy sauce.

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Ingredients:
450g silver needle noodles (mee tai bak)
300g shrimps
1 slice ham (shredded)
113g green bean sprouts
2 spring onions (sectioned)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)

Marinade:
pepper
1/2 tsp cornflour

Seasoning:
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp water

Method:
1. Shell and devein shrimps. Wash and wipe dry. Mix with marinade. Scald.

2. Heat wok and add 2 tbsp of oil. Add garlic, silver needle noodles and seasoning. Stir fry until silver needle noodles are hot enough. Put in shrimps, ham and green bean sprouts. Stir fry until the sauce dries up. Add spring onion and stir fry. Serve.

Tip: Stir fry silver needle noodles with seasoning until fragrant and hot enough before adding the other ingredients. Cooked this way, silver needle noodles are fragrant and mouth-watering.

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Well, again...recipe is recipe. Can use some flexibility. For some reason, I had started by frying the bean sprouts first, then added the silver needle noodles. I also added more water than needed. At the end of my frying, the bean sprouts still tasted raw, so I transfered to a metal pot and continue to let it simmer (but be careful of the base being burnt!)

Western Lunch at Astons Express

2008-10-26T14:20:00.003+08:00

I first tried Astons at NUS Campus. That time, I had its black pepper chicken. This new outlet had just opened at AMK Central. For the meal, you can choose two side dishes (hot or cold). Hot side dishes include mashed potato, baked potato, french fries, etc. Cold ones include coleslaw, potato salad and others.

Not too bad. Very filling.

I had Lemon Lime Chicken this afternoon. This is the first time I ate western mean without chilli sauce. The lemon lime gravy is nice. Very appetizing as it is a little sour. I chose mashed potato and coleslaw as the side dishes. They are nice! However, I couldn't finish the coleslaw. Too filling. By looking at it (esp when you are hungry), you may wonder how much this will satisfy your hunger. Hahahaha....Anyway, the price for this is $5.90.

This is the Chicken Burger. Ordered as a set meal (at $5.50), it came with one side dish and we chose french fries. The fries is nice, just that it is not hot at all.

Mmmmm....yummy, yummy....Trust me, the burger was huge. Need a big mouth to conquer it. The bread itself is quite soft. Overall: NICE.

Go try.

A de-stressor on a stressful day

2008-10-18T21:09:00.003+08:00

Wanna give a guess what this is? Had this during one of my 'therapeutic' lunch to destress.

My Crap Dinner

2008-10-18T20:33:00.017+08:00

Ooops, sorry. I mean crab. We had dinner at AMK Ave 3, Uncle Leong Seafood tonight. Had initially wanted to go to the famous one had Blk 232, but it was already very crowded (long queue) even before 6pm! So we crossed over to the opposite block, Blk 233, which was still empty (but gradually got more crowded after 6.30pm).

Hey, this lemon chicken is very tasty! The gravy is great. The sour and sweet combination is well balanced. It can help in boosting your appetite. The chicken coating is also very nice. All in one phrase - I have not eaten such great lemon chicken for a long time.

Nothing special about this xiao bai cai. I was just irritated that I couldn't bite off the vege nicely. The stalk kept hanging in my mouth!

Decided to order little man tou to go with our dishes, though there was no chilli crab to begin with. I thought the man tou wasn't fried too well. Still quite soft when I bit on it. Didn't really like it. Expected it to be more crunchy. Just look at the colour - doesn't look too well-fried right?

So, this is the reason we were there! Were still comtemplating what kind of crab to order. Finally decided on this black pepper crab with bee hoon. I would say, it tasted good. The crab meat was thick. Mmmmm....really a joy to eat this kind of crab.

That's our dinner for the evening. The proportion was just nice. We were reasonably full after the meal. My favourite? The crab and the lemon chicken.

The crabs they have are those very huge ones. Here's the claw, almost as big as the palm. See how meaty it is. Dying to have a bite?

Enjoying my meal. Trying to eat with grace.

Wow, what a big mou.....er....appetite. That's the best part of the crab, especially when it's soooo huge.

The shell is always being 'attacked' by dad. That has been his all-time favourite. Guess I know why. Because that's the easiest to eat. Can also eat with grace. Heeheehee.....

BURP! We are done. SLURP!

Care for a bowl of Soto Ayam?

2008-10-11T16:23:00.007+08:00

For a long time, I have not eaten a bowl of soto ayam that I consider anywhere near 'good'. The standard seems to have deteriorated gradually.

BUT!! I have found a good soto ayam stall this afternoon while having lunch prior to attending a friend's Fish Spa opening at Upper Serangoon Road.

The stall is located within the Ah Seah Eating House, along Yio Chu Kang Road (well, that's what the road is called though the main road just across it's junction is Upper Serangoon Road where the Singapore Crocodile Farm is, if you know where).

Called Rahim Muslim Food, it focuses only on a few items, which I believed are their specialty dishes - Mee Rebus, Mee Soto, Soto Ayam and Satay. One of the special items is Mee Rebus with Chicken.

The Mee Soto I ate is one of the best I have eaten in many, many years. It is generous with its bean sprouts (if you like it). Thankfully, the bean sprouts were nicely cooked and crunchy, unlike the usual raw-tasting bean sprouts which is not even half-cooked. The chilli, when added to the soto makes the dish very tasty too.

And the last thing is....the price is somewhat more expensive than those you buy at other places. My bowl of Soto Ayam cost $3.30. The usual price elsewhere is around $2 to $2.50 per bowl. But rest assured that the portion is decent. At least, I finally can fill my tummy reasonably with this bowl of soto. I will be happy to go back any time to patronise this stall again.

It states: If good, tell your friends. If no good, tell us!

Go try it, folks!

麦芽糖

2008-10-03T21:56:00.002+08:00

不知从何时开始，市场推出了不同口味的麦芽糖。我常过了三种口味-葡萄味，巧克力味和以上照片里的Sarsi味。告诉你们，最难吃的是巧克力味的！

但我最怀念的还是那原汁原味的麦芽糖。已经好久没在市场见过了。

要是你还在那儿还见过Original 的麦芽糖，记得让我知道！

Recipe for Five-Minute Fudge

2008-10-03T21:44:00.004+08:00

Found this Five-Minute Fudge recipe from the website. Glad to have found something chocolatey that doesn't need baking. No harm trying it out cos it seems soooo simple. Will let you know how it's like after I have tried it.

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Picture from Company's Coming Cookbooks

Granulated sugar 1 2/3 cups (400 mL)
Evaporated milk (or half-and-half cream) 2/3 cup (150 mL)
Butter (or hard margarine) 2 tbsp. (30 mL)
Salt 1/2 tsp. (2 mL)

Miniature marshmallows 2 cups (500 mL)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 1/2 cups (375 mL)
Chopped walnuts 1/2 cup (125 mL)
Vanilla extract 1 tsp. (5 mL)

Combine first 4 ingredients in medium heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium. Boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.Add remaining 4 ingredients. Stir. Beat with spoon for about 1 minute until marshmallows are melted. Spread evenly in greased 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) pan. Let stand until set. Makes about 2 lbs. (900 g) fudge. Cuts into 36 squares.

1 square: 100 Calories; 3.9 g Total Fat (1.0 g Mono, 0.9 g Poly, 1.8 g Sat); 2 mg Cholesterol; 17 g Carbohydrate; 1 g Fibre; 1 g Protein; 47 mg Sodium

Recipe for Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Marigold Non Fat Yoghurt Fruit Dip

2008-10-02T20:12:00.004+08:00

Here's the recipe from cousin BL. She learnt this from a workshop. Thanks for sharing. I must try. The picture looks appetizing.

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Ingredients:
Coconut Shrimp
Desiccated Coconut Flaked, Lightly Toasted 2 cups
Corn Flour ½ cup
Japanese Panko Crumbs (Bread Crumb) ½ cup
Cajun Spice (to Taste) ½ tsp
Salt ½ tsp
White Pepper Powder ½ tsp
Egg White 3 nos
Fresh Lime Juice 1tbsp
Large Shrimp (peeled with Tails on) 20 pcs

Dipping Sauce
MARIGOLD NON FAT Peach Mango Yoghurt 400gm
Fresh Lime Juice 1 tbsp
Salt ¼ tsp
Thai Red Curry paste (to taste) ½ to 1 tbsp
Chopped Fresh Cilantro (Chinese Parsley) 1 tbsp
Lime (Garnish) 2 wedge

Cooking Method:
1. Mix well the coconut & bread crumb together in a bowl.
2. Marinate the prawns with salt, pepper & Cajun spice, then add in fresh lime juice after that add in the egg white for 2 mins.
3. Put the yoghurt in a bowl, add in Thai red curry paste, chopped Cilantro, fresh lime juice then stir well and add in salt, pepper and mix them well.
4. Put the corn flour in a small bowl then add in some water and stir it well.
5. Put the prawn into the corn flour mixture and then coat it well with the coconut & bread crumb mixture.
6. Put the prawn into the oil and deep fry until golden brown.
7. Serve shrimp with MARIGOLD NO FAT Peach Mango Yoghurt fruit dip garnished with cilantro.

Note:
Dried coconut (80%) best is more than Bread Crumb(20%), so the shrimp will more crispy.
Can change Shrimp to Dory Fish.
If want the shrimp straight, just massage the shrimp until it straight.

Japanese Lunch at Ichiban!

2008-09-29T13:38:00.011+08:00

It had been a relaxing weekend and the peak of the weekend had been this sumptuous lunch at AMK Hub. Yummy...

The set my hubby had been wanting to eat since last week. Eel set. Instead of white rice, the eel came with fried rice which was very nice (I meant the rice. I am no more fan of eel, so no comments about eel). But I guess the whole set was very good because hubby was thoroughly enjoying himself!

Mine's a BBQ Chicket set. Taste wise, not bad. Just that the chicken was hard. I was expecting something more tender. Well, it came with raw salmon which is what I love! All in all, was a nice meal and I was also enjoying it.

Can't resist taking this picture. I cannot remember since when had I started eating raw salmon. I don't like cooked salmon as much, especially the smoked ones.

Here's the Gyozu side dish. I didn't try but I believe it is good. At least I tried the gravy. Hehehe...

Fried Chicken coated with cereals. Children's favourite.

Erm, I think this was a jumbo set. There were soft shell crab and chicken (terriyaki?). Looked tasty, tasted even tastier. Hahaha...

This is beef rice. I don't take beef so I really don't know how this one should taste like or actually tasted like.

Chicken Katsu Don. This is one of my favourite Jap dish for a very simple reason - the egg that they add onto the fried chicken. Yum yum.

Prata Prata

2008-09-27T21:52:00.004+08:00

Went for dinner with a friend at the Casuarina Road. If you are familiar with the place, you will know there are lots of prata shops. We went to this one called Casuarina Curry. We had prata with egg, spinach and masala chicken. The food's good but we were catching up more than really appreciating the food.

You may think this is a huge prata compared to the ones sold in our hawker centres? In terms of size it may seem bigger, but that's because they are made much thinner and they are crispy, if you like crispy prata. One egg prata costs S$1.50.

Oh and I had teh tarek which is also nice. Not too milky.

Recipe for Stir Fried Noodles with Shredded Pork and Mushrooms (三丝炒伊面)

2008-09-23T14:36:00.019+08:00

I got this recipe from a Stir Fry cookbook meant for Filipino helper. I like the simplified instructions and ingredients so I bought it home.

This is one of my favourite dishes when I attend wedding banquet.

I tried this out at home and it worked out really fine. Managed to stir up a decent meal for the two men at home!

There are other interesting dishes in the cookbook which I will try before sharing, I thought.

Ingredients:
1 fried noodles (large)
113g lean meat
113g green bean sprouts
3 dried black mushrooms
1 spring onion (sectioned)
2 slices ginger (shredded)

Marinade:
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp water

Seasoning:
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup water

Instructions:
1. Shred lean pork and mix with marinade
2. Cut the stalks off the caps of mushrooms. Soak until soft and shred.
3. Bring suitable amount of water to the boil. Put in fried noodles and cook for 1 minute. Remove and drain.
4. Heat wok and add 2 tbsp of oil. Put in ginger, dried black mushrooms and lean pork. Stir fry until the sauce dries up. Add green bean sprouts and spring onion and stir fry. Serve.

(My own comments: Of course you can have the variation you want according to your own preference.)

Photo and recipe from "Cookery Class for Filipino Helper - Stir Fry"

老爸的“菜饭”

2008-09-21T18:08:00.003+08:00

记得在小时候，经常会吃到这一种饭。那时候觉得好稀奇，怎么饭是这样的，而且还很好吃。过后，就好久没吃到了。

不久前，老爸开始研究从新做这道饭。我终于又能吃咯！

饭内的料包括我最喜欢的包菜，有香菇，虾米，腊肠等。有时还会找到午餐肉呢！

下回就让我自己尝试煮吧。

Recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

2008-09-21T17:53:00.002+08:00

When I saw 'bread', I was like, 'er, how was my convectional oven supposed to produce bread'? Luckily the end result was more like cake. It's a simple recipe and I had baked this many many times over. One of the more decent product I had managed.

Once when I went to get bananas, the stall owner shared with me that not all bananas can be used to bake cakes. Suggested I get the 'ang bak jio' (red meat banana, literally translating from the hokkien words). It really smells and tasted better than the dunno what banana I used previously.

So here's the recipe:

1 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup double chocolate chips
¼ cup pecans or walnuts toasted and chopped
1 stick softened unsalted butter
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Convection Bake. Butter and flour a 9x5x2 ½inch loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda andpowder and salt. Combine the chocolate chips and walnuts with 1 teaspoon offlour and set aside. Beat the butter together with the sugar until light andfluffy about 7 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time , then stir in thebananas and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture and fold in the chocolate andnuts. Bake 325 degrees Convection Bake for 50 minutes or until a knifeinserted comes out clean.

Dragon Fruits

2008-09-18T21:16:00.007+08:00

I don't really know a lot about dragon fruits until I started reading about it recently from the different websites. My mum-in-law gave me one a week ago after my hubby told her I have been wanting to buy one, I think.

Dragon fruits has some similarities to kiwi fruits in that both contain tiny black crunchy seeds in the flash. Even the texture is similar. The difference I noticed is that kiwi tend to be more sour. Dragon fruit comes from the cactus family.

According to what I have read from a few websites, dragon fruits are rich in Vitamin C, fwater soluble fibre and minerals. They also contain antioxidant properties which prevent the formation of cancer-causing free radicals. It is widely commented that dragon fruits has high nutritional and medicinal value. Dragon fruits have the functions im improving eyesight and hypertension.

Typically, dragon fruits are sweet (sometimes blend, I thought). I love the crunchiness of the flesh because of the little black seeds. The flesh is white for this one that I had. The other type has got red flesh, which I would like to give a try. I am not sure if the red flesh fruit is sweeter or tastes better than the white.

One lazy way of eating is to use a spoon and scoop the flesh and put it right into your mouth. Just like how some people eat papaya. The other way is to run a spoon round the circumference to separate the flesh from the skin. But I find this way quite messy.

I prefer to run my thumb (of course must be thoroughly cleaned) round the flesh and use a little force to lift the flesh out. Much easier this way.

And finally, cutting the flesh into cubes for easy consumption. I realised that the skin can be used for serving the cubes. Very presentable, isn't it?

Start eating dragon fruits for great nutrition with it's healthy properties.

All About Food

2008-09-15T21:17:00.003+08:00

I have finally decided to have a second blog which is more focused. Since I love food, I thought it would be great to start off with a topic that I encounter every day, ie eating, eating and eating.

The rate of postings here is likely to be slower than my main blog "What A World!" as I will need more time to gather some other information in addition to what I have to say.

So, stay tuned and look out for my very first 'focus-based' post!