Mint Leaves Omelet

I'm not good in gardening. You can find there are only few pots of plant at my house. However, I have a dream...... I wish to have a small spice garden at home. :)

I started my plan about a month ago. The first herb that I grow in a small pot is the easy growing herb, the mint leaves. At first it didn't grow well. But day after day I observe new leaves started to grow. Then after some time, I noticed that it looks like it's dying, but miraculously the next day it is back to healthy looking again. So, I think I better do something before it's too late. I'm harvesting the first batch of home grown mint leaves. The first batch of leaves just enough for 2.

I used it for mint leaves omelet. My late grandma in law (MIL's mum) used to cook this when we went back to hubby's home town. She told me that it was my hubby's favorite. My mom never cook omelet in this way. So, I learned from late grandma. Late grandma was the chef at home. Although she faced some inflexibility in mobile, she insisted to cook until a year before she left us on 19th August 2009.

I'm sharing this dish with Baby in the City - KL's Merdeka Open Day 2010. The theme of this year is Food From Our Hearts. Happy Merdeka Day to all Malaysian!

Mint Leaves Omelet

Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients:

3 eggs
a handful of mint leaves
1 tbsp of cooking oil

Seasoning:

1 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce

Steps:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add soy sauce and get the egg beaten.

2. Heat oil in a wok. Pour the egg mixture to fry. When it's almost cook at the bottom, toss the mint leaves on top of egg. Turn the egg to fry the other side for about 30 seconds. Fold the omelet into half and dish out.

Hawaiian Tuna Pizza (Tortilla Crust)

My first attempt of pizza making was the meat crust pizza. Although hubby keep on requesting for more, but I take no action. This round I used tortilla for the crust instead of meat. If you like thin crust, then tortilla is a good choice. This is a no fuss recipe that anyone can follow. With the same concept, you can add whatever toppings you like. You can even make a veggies pizza for a healthier selection.

With just a few steps, the hawaiian tuna pizza above is ready for our afternoon snack. The crust is crispy after baking and the melted cheese is just plain yummy.

Hawaiian Tuna Pizza (Tortilla Crust)

Makes 1 tortilla pizza 

Ingredients:

1 flour tortilla, 8 inch
3 tbsp spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce
pineapple cubes
3 tbsp of Mayonnaise tuna
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
about 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese at room temperature

Steps:

1. Place a tortilla on a baking tray. Spread spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce to within inch of edges.

2. Spread the mayonnaise tuna on the spaghetti sauce layer. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Top with pineapple cubes and cherry tomatoes. Bake under 180 deg C until the cheese melts. Serve hot.

Fruit Sponge Cake

Fruit sponge cake is the classic dessert to have for one's birthday. This sponge cake is soft and smooth, and the fluffy texture is kind of melting in your mouth. With a lavish coat of whipped cream and peach sandwiched in between the sponge cake, it tastes heavenly.

This fruit cake is just divine. I'm still drooling while writing this. Thanks to my dear! The cake  was bought by him from Bread History in Queensbay Mall.

Although I'm still a beginner in baking, but I hope I can bake a simple fruit sponge cake for him in this coming September. Basically I have an idea in my mind, let's see if my simple and healthy version of fruit cake will work out fine. Wish me luck. :P

Roast Chicken and Assorted Vegetables

My low cost tabletop oven is my good kitchen helper. Whenever I'm lazy to cook, it helps to perform the cooking. See, this is our palatable meal on last weekend prepared by the oven. We had roasted free range chicken with all sorts of vegetables. It took me very little effort to season the chicken, and my kitchen helper carried out the roasting task. Doesn't it look glorious and lip-smacking?

I've not cooking any chicken dish since the last dish of chicken stew. We limit the intake of chicken and try our best to only consume free range chicken at home. Since I have a fresh free range chicken, so I used half of it for the roast chicken. For the roast/bake chicken recipe, you can refer to my earlier post as listed below:

Bake Chicken with Home Made Sauce

Roast Chicken Thigh with Herbs 

Roast Chicken Thigh with McCormick Onion Gravy Mix 

Roast Chicken Thigh Platter 

Roast Chicken with Rosemary  

Roast Drumstick with Fruits Salad  

Enjoy!

Bak Kut Teh （Pork Ribs Tea Soup) 肉骨茶

Bak Kut Teh (Pork Ribs in Tea Soup) is  my dad's favorite. My dad is a pork lover. He likes almost every part of a pig from pork ear, pork belly, pork tail, pork trotter to pork intestines. Although mom seldom cook Bak Kut Teh at home, but cooking it once in a blue moon does cheer him up.

I don't like Bak Kut Teh until the recent years. This is my second time of cooking bak kut teh over the past few years. The savory soup is heavenly infused with Chinese herbs, but not overpowering. It'll be so blissful to have a bowl of hot soup on rainy day to warm up my stomach.

A bowl of home cooked bak kut teh...hmm...can you smell the aroma? I don't add pork intestines, but I have pork belly, pork ribs, meatballs, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, green veggies, and fried-beancurd. With the dipping sauce, that's enough to boost my appetite.

I'm sharing this non-halal dish in Merdeka Open House 2010 organized by Babe in the City - KL

Bak Kut Teh （Pork Ribs Tea Soup)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

450gm of pork ribs, chopped into pieces
250gm of pork belly, cut into bite size
20 meatballs
3 pieces of hard beancurd, cut into bite-sized and fried till golden brown
6 caps of dried shiitake mushroom, dehydrated
200gm of enoki mushroom, cut-off the bottom part and cleaned
1 bulb of garlic, cleaned
40gm of bak kut teh spices mix (I use a packet of "Claypot" brand Bakuteh Kau)
yau mak or lettuce 
2 liter water or more

Seasonings:

1tbsp of oyster sauce
1/2 tsp of dark soy sauce (for coloring)
light soy sauce to taste

Dipping Sauce (Mix-up all):

chopped garlic
bird's eye chili, chopped
dark soy sauce
light soy sauce

Steps:

1. Bring water to boil in a pot. Add a bulb of garlic and the 2 filter bags of bak kut teh spices. Leave it simmers for 15 minutes.

2. Blanch the pork ribs and pork belly in hot boiling water to remove scum.

3. Add the pork ribs and pork belly into the soup and leave it simmer for 1 hour. Top up water from time to time. Add seasonings.

4. Add the shiitake mushroom and fried beancurd. Leave it simmers for another 1 hour.

5. Add meatballs, enoki mushroom and veggies. Dish out and serve hot with white rice or yam rice.