Purple Carrot Soup

I spotted the purple carrot during my grocery shopping. It was imported from Australia. Thinking of giving it a try on my home cooked dish, so I bought a packet of 2. 

This is what I cooked the purple carrot into. The purple carrot soup with lean pork slices, onion and garlic. The kids are inspired by mummy's magic purple soup.They poured the soup into white rice to make their magic purple rice. Kids, it's not magic, but it's the Iodine. 

Purple Carrot Soup (Serves 4)

Magic Cooker Recipe

Ingredients:

1 purple carrot, peeled and cut into cubes
1200ml water
100gm lean pork slices
1 onion, peeled and quartered
5 cloves of garlic
half tsp of white pepper, mashed

Seasonings:
Sea salt and light soy sauce to taste

Seasonings:
Sea salt and light soy sauce to taste

Method:
1. Bring the water to boil in the internal magic cooker pot.
2. Add all the ingredient and leave it simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Put the pot into magic cooker. Leave it for 2 hours.
4. Remove the pot from the magic cooker, and heat it up on the stove.
5. Add seasonings to taste and it's ready for serving.

Bak Kut Teh (Pork Ribs Tea Soup) in Philips Pressure Cooker

Philips Electric Pressure Cooker is a good kitchen helper. It is definitely helpful in terms of shortening meal preparation time. This round, I’m cooking my version of pork ribs soup. Just put in all the ingredients, and when cooking is done, just serve it with blanched enoki mushroom and Romaine lettuce. Enjoy!

Bak Kut Teh （Pork Ribs Tea Soup)

Cooked in Philips Electric Pressure Cooker

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

450gm of pork ribs, chopped into pieces
250gm of pork belly, cut into bite size
20 meatballs
6 caps of dried shiitake mushroom, dehydrated and stalk removed
200gm of enoki mushroom, cut-off the bottom part and cleaned
3 bulbs of garlic, cleaned, leave the skin on
40gm of bak kut teh spices mix (I use a packet of "Claypot" brand Bakuteh Kau)
Romaine lettuce 
1 liter water

Seasonings:

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

Dipping Sauce (Mix-up all):

3-5 cloves of chopped garlic
a handful bird's eye chili, chopped
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
light soy sauce to cover the chopped garlic and chili
juice of 2-3 calamansi

Steps:

1. Put all the ingredients and seasonings, except the Romaine lettuce and enoki mushroom into the internal pot.
2. Place the top lid onto the electric pressure cooker and turn it clockwise to get it locked. Select the “Beef/Mutton” menu, and ensure that the vent is closed and pointed to wards pressure cooking.

3. Blanch the enoki mushroom for 1 minutes, drain and set aside.

4. When the soup is completed with the cooking process, leave it for a few minutes until the pressure is released.
5. Add in the enoki mushroom and lettuce. Serve hot with rice and the dipping sauce.

Stuffed Bitter Gourd Soup 酿苦瓜汤

I’m not fancy over the bitter gourd soup boiled with pork ribs. Instead, my favorite is stuffed bitter gourd soup. I learned this from my mom. The secret behind this dish is the fermented soy bean used to marinate the grounded pork. It neutralizes the bitter taste of the bitter gourd and it brings out the flavor of the bitter gourd soup. Yummy!

Stuffed Bitter Gourd Soup

Ingredients:
half bitter gourd, core removed 300gm
grounded pork
1 tbsp goji berries, soaked in water for 5 minutes and drained
salt or light soy sauce to taste
600ml water

Pork Marinades
1 1/2 tbsp fermented soy bean, mashed
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Steps:
1. Marinate the minced pork for 2 hours in the fridge.
2. Stuff the bitter gourd with marinated minced pork. Shape the left over minced pork into meat balls.
3. Bring water to a boil. Pour the water into the inner pot of slow cooker.
4. Add the stuffed bitter gourd and the meat balls. Boil the soup over high heat for 1 hours.
5. Turn the cooking mode to slow cook. Continue the cooking for another 2 hours.
6. Toss in goji berries. Add salt or light soy sauce to taste.
7. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Watercress Soup 西洋菜汤

Usually I boil soup with either Chinese herbs or root vegetables like carrot, potato, radish, nagaimo or lotus root. This time, I made a change to boil soup with green leafy vegetable, the watercress. My mom used to cook this soup with pork ribs, white pepper corns and red dates. So, I just follow her style and this time I cook it for my parents instead. However, you won’t taste the difference between my version and my mom’s version. This could be what I inherit from my mom. :)

The soup is refreshing, but not too cooling with added pepper corns and red dates. The watercress contributes lots of fiber. However, the vitamins may be partially loss throughout the simmering process.

Watercress Soup


Ingredients:
2.5 liter water
1 big bunch of watercress, rinsed and cut into 2.5” length
1 chicken carcass, blanched
300gm of pork ribs, blanched
12 red dates, rinsed and make a cut on each date
1tsp of white pepper corn, cracked
Salt to taste

Steps:
1.Bring water to boil in a pot.
2.Add cracked pepper corns, red dates, chicken carcass and pork ribs. Leave for simmering for 1 and a half hours.
3.Add watercress and bring to boil. Let the soup simmers for another 1 minutes.
4.Add salt to taste and serve warm.

Father’s Day Special

Last year, I invited my parents to my house to celebrate Mother’s Day. This year I did the same for Father’s Day. On this special day, I prefer to spent some private time with families at home rather than joining the crowd.

Here’s what I cooked today. I got thumbs up from my parents. I’m glad they like it.

Watercress soup with red dates and pork ribs

Otak-otak aka spicy fish custard, this is my dad's favorite

Chili crab, my mom's courtesy

Fried Chicken Chop, that I experimented last week

And lastly, the rainbow jelly for dessert

Happy Father's Day!

Nagaimo Soup (Slow Cooker Recipe) 淮山、杞子、红枣汤

These days I don't have time to boil soup during weekdays. Soup boiling at home is only limited to once or twice a week over the the weekend. This Nagaimo soup was my creation last Sunday. I called up hubby to buy some Nagaimo when he was out to the wet market. I always have add on to my shopping list from my ad-hoc  inspiration. :-)

Nagaimo is good for girl's growth as it helps to generate female hormone that aids in breast and ovary forming. That's what I learned from a Traditional Chinese Medicine. If you are worried if the Nagaimo is too cooling, you can always add some white pepper corns or ginger to the dish. That is what I did for this soup. 

Nagaimo Soup

Ingredients:

180gm of nagaimo, skinned and cut into bite size

250gm of pork ribs, blanched in boiling water

8 red dates

1 tbsp of goji berries

1/2 tsp of cracked white pepper corns (optional)

2 slices of ginger

1.3ml of hot water

Seasonings:

salt to taste

Steps:

1. Pour hot water into the slow cooker pot.

2. Add all ingredients. Leave it simmers for 3 hours.

3. Add salt to taste and serve hot.

Radish and Carrot Soup

It's now a good season to get big, fat and juicy white radish. I grabbed one last week and paired it up with carrot to make it into tasty peppery soup. I played around with the carrot cutter again to get the radish and carrot shaped into star and flower. Don't you think the soup looks interesting? By the way, it tastes really sweet. I like it.

Radish and Carrot Soup


Ingredients:
300 gm of pork ribs
1 radish, peeled and cut into pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
2 liter water
half tsp of white peppercorns, lightly pounded with the back of cleaver
salt to taste
chopped spring onion for garnishing

Steps:
1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water and set aside.
2. Bring 2 liter of water to boil in a pot. Add white pepper and pork ribs. Leave it simmers for half an hour.
3. Add carrot and radish and leave it simmers under low heat for another 1 hour.
4. Add salt to taste. Garnish with spring onion just before serving.

Poached Egg In Mint Leaves Soup

This recipe is modified from my mom's "egg drop mint leaves soup". With a small spice garden at home, mint leaves come in handy these days. Hence, I got the idea to cook this soup when I attempted to make poached egg the other day. The soup is so refreshing. :)

Poached Egg In Mint Leaves Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 poached eggs
600ml of chicken stock
a handful of mint leaves
salt to taste
half tsp of garlic oil

Steps:
1. Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
2. Add salt to taste and garlic oil.
3. Add a poached egg in each bowl.
4. Pour the chicken stock to each bowl.
5. Garnish each serving with mint leaves. Serve hot.

Corn and Carrot Soup

The hot weather makes me feel very uncomfortable. The good thing is, during the day I spend my most of my time in free air-conditioned environment. Otherwise, it'll drive me crazy. The weather is so hot that I can't cool down at night even when the air-condition is on. Just imagine...

Because of the hot weather, I lost appetite. The only dish I think of is soup. I need nourishing clear soup to heal my body. So, I boiled this soup for lunch on Saturday. It's sweet and it boosted my body with plenty of  antioxidants. 

Corn and Carrot Soup

1 pearl corn, chopped into 1" length

1 carrot, peeled and cut into pieces

300gm pork ribs, chopped into pieces
spring onion, chopped (for garnishing)

1.25liter of hot boiling water

salt to taste

Steps:

1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water to remove scum.

2. Put everything in the slow cooker, except salt. Leave the soup boiling for 2 hours.
3. Add light soy sauce to taste and garnish with chopped spring onion.

Broccoli Soup

It was quite a boring Chinese New Year's eve. My in law's are not celebrating the new year due to grandma in law passed away in a week before the Chinese New Year. Nothing much to enjoy during this festival. After a simple family dinner, I spend my time watching Asian Food Channel. Coincidently, I spotted one simple recipe from Chef At Home. Micheal Smith cooked a tempting broccoli soup on the show.  Immediately, I jotted down the ingredients and get ready to cook it when I get back home. :) So, I'm here to share this delicious soup with you. Enjoy!

Broccoli Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 broccoli, get the stem sliced and the rest cut into florets
1 potato, peeled and julienned
400-500ml chicken stock (adjust based on your preference)
shredded cheddar cheese
olive oil

Seasonings:
dashes of black pepper powder
dashes of nutmeg powder
salt to taste

Steps:
1. Heat up generous amount of olive oil in a saucepan. Sauté onion till soften, and add garlic to combine.
2. Add julienned potato and stir-fry.
3. Pour the chicken stock into the saucepan and bring for simmering.
4. Add broccoli stem to the soup. Leave it simmering till the broccoli stem turn soft.
5. Leave the soup cooled before blend it into smooth texture.
6. Return the soup to the saucepan. Add broccoli florets and bring to a boil.
7. Add seasoning to taste. Off the flame and add in shredded cheddar cheese. Serve hot.

Chai Boey 菜尾

Days ago I got a leftover roasted pig trotter from a praying ceremony. I can't think of a way to consume it, except utilizing it on a dish called Chai Boey. When translated to dialect, Chai Boey means leftovers of a meal. Hence, it is a dish combines all the leftover food into a sourish and spicy soupy dish that is stewed for hours. 

Anyway for my version, I didn't use left overs, instead I combine with all fresh ingredients and spices. See the outcome of the stewing process? Looks tempting? I'm mouth-watering now by just looking at the photos, hehe...This is my top pick.

Chai Boey

Ingredients:
800gm of green mustard, washed and cut
2 tomatoes, diced
3 dried mushrooms, soaked, drained and quartered
a handful of dried chili, soaked, de-seeded and cut into half
1 roasted pork trotter, chopped into pieces
5 pieces of tamarind pieces (asam keping)
3 stalk of lemon grass, smashed the white portion
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
7 cups of water

Seasonings:
light soy sauce to taste

Steps:

1. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add lemon grass, garlic, dried chili, tamarind pieces, and pork trotter. Leave it simmers for half and hour.

2. Add green mustard and mushroom. Leave it simmers for another 45 minutes to 1 hour under low heat. Stir occasionally.
3. Add tomato and light soy sauce to taste. Serve hot with steamed rice.

English Gourd and Carrot Soup

English gourd or chayote can be found at very reasonable price in hypermarket. I bought one less than MYR1. Besides using it for stir-frying, it's a good ingredients for soup boiling. Both cooking methods are  great with the natural sweetness of English gourd.

English Gourd and Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 English gourd, cored and cut into cubes

1 carrot, peeled and cut into bite-sized

8 red dates, pitted

250gm of pork ribs

1 liter water

Seasonings:

Light soy sauce or salt to taste

Steps:

1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water, drain and set aside.

2. Add English gourd, carrot, pork ribs and red dates into the inner pot of slow cooker. 

3. Bring 1 liter water to a boil. Pour it over the ingredients.

4.Simmer under high heat for 2 hours, and turn to low heat for the last few hours.

5. Add seasonings and serve hot. 

Cream of Mushroom

This is a shortcut of preparing the cream of mushroom using Campbell's instant soup with some fresh white button mushrooms. I was worried that preparing mushroom soup from scratch was time consuming, so I came up with this idea, a blend of both instant soup and fresh mushrooms :)

Cream of Mushroom
Serves 2


Ingredients:
5 fresh white button mushrooms, chopped
2 packet of Campbell's instant cream of mushroom
1tbsp of olive oil
400ml of boiling water

Steps:
1. Heat up oil in a pan. Sauté mushroom for few minutes.
2. Pour the instant soup mixture in a bowl. Add the sautéed mushroom.
3. Add boiling water and stir.

Lotus Root & Peanut Soup

This bowl of Lotus Root & Peanut Soup means a lot to me. It was cooked, dished out and photo shot by hubby. He even send over this photo to me while I'm at work. Can you imagine how precious is it? He knows nothing about cooking except soup boiling. That's what I trained him. So far, he did it pretty well. To my surprise, he prove his talent in food presentation. Can you see it from this photo?

For the recipe, please refer here.

Black Bean Soup

Black bean really comes in handy in my kitchen. Whenever I lack of fresh ingredients for soup, black bean soup will be the soup of the day. The soup is nutritious as the black bean contains fiber, protein, flavonoid anti-oxidant, vitamins and minerals. More info can be found here. 

Some people boil the soup with dong quai, but I used to boil the black bean soup with garlic and pork ribs, and seasoned with light soy sauce. That's about it, and finally let the slow cooker perform the simmering job. It sounds extremely easy, right?

Black Bean Soup

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

150 grams black bean, rinsed with running water

1 bulb of garlic, peeled

200 grams of pork ribs, blanched

1.5 liter water

light soy sauce to taste

Steps:

1. Add pork rib, black bean and garlic to the slow cooker pot. 

2. Bring water to boil in a pot. Pour it into the slow cooker pot. Leave the ingredients to cook under high heat for at least 3 hours. Then shift it to low heat and leave it simmers for another 2 hours or until the bean is softened.

3. Add light soy sauce to taste. Serve hot with rice.

Cordyceps Soup (Double-Boiling Method)

Can you see the worm-like roots? 

It's been years that I've not stepped into wet market. Hubby is the one who goes to market on every Sunday to buy all the item as per my list. There's always pros and cons. Pros is I can utilize my time to do house chores at home. Cons is I didn't get any chance to discover new ingredients for my cooking, as hubby's knowledge in ingredients is pretty limited. 

The other day, we went to a supermarket that I rarely go. I spotted fresh Cordyceps, so without hesitation, I grab a packet of it. Here's my new creation, the fresh Cordyceps soup cooked in double boiler. If you prefer clear soup, then double boiler is a good helper. Although the soup is cooked for hours but the soup base remained clear and clean. Fresh Cordiceps taste pretty bland. Luckily I added some other Chinese herbs to enhance the flavour. 

Cordyceps Soup (Double-Boiling Method)
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:

80gm fresh cordyceps, cleaned
250gm pork ribs, chopped into small pieces and blanched
12 red dates, 6-pitted and 6-leave as it is
6 strips of yuk chok
4 strips of wai san
2 tbsp of wolf berry, soaked and drained
1300ml water
salt to taste



Steps:
1. Pour 1300ml water into inner pot of a double boiler. Bring to a boil.
2. Add blanched pork ribs, fresh cordyceps, red dates, yuk chok and wai san to the boiling water. Leave it simmering for 3 hours. Check and top up the water level in the outer pot from time to time.
3. Add wolf berries and salt to taste. Leave it simmers for another 5 minutes before off the flame.

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.

Eight Precious Decoction (Crock Pot Recipe)

The ingredients of Eight Precious includes Polygoni (首乌), Angelicae Sinensis (当归头), Astragalus (北芪), Codonopsis (党参), Ligusiticum (旱前胡), Radix Paeoniae Alba (白芍), and Radix Rehmaniae Preaparata (熟地黄).

It is a traditional Chinese Medicine commonly used for nourishing the body, improving the blood circulation , replenishing the vital essence and enhance the body resistance to diseases.

The soup can be taken on its own, with rice or with flour vemicelli.

Eight Precious Decoction (Crock Pot Recipe)

serves 2

Ingredients:

Half of free range chicken, skinned and cut into 2 pieces
1 packet of Eight Precious Decoction ingredients, rinsed
1 liter water
light soy sauce or salt to taste (optional)

Steps:

1. Blanch the chicken in boiling water. Drain and set aside.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Pour it into inner pot of slow cooker.

3. Add in chicken and Eight Precious ingredients. Simmer under high heat for at least 3 hours.

4. Skim off the scum and oil from the soup surface. Serve hot.

Lotus Root and Peanut Soup (Crock Pot Recipe)

Lotus root is the root of waterlily. The root is embedded in the mud, hence you can see the skin of the raw lotus root still contain the mud stain. It is a wonderful ingredients in Chinese cuisine. It is commonly found in savory soup boiling, but now it's widely used in stir-frying and deep-frying too.

This soup taste delightful with just lotus root and pork ribs. But, with the existence of peanut and red dates, it tastes superb. Hmm...I love it!

Lotus Root and Peanut Soup (Crock Pot Recipe)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

250gm of lotus root
300gm of pork ribs, washed and blanched in boiling water
10 red date
2 handful of peanuts
1.5 liter of water

Seasonings:

Light soy sauce or salt to taste

Steps:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Pour it into slow cooker.

2. Add in lotus root, red dates, peanut and pork rib. Simmer under high heat for at least 3 hours. Add light soy sauce or salt to taste.

3. Skim off the scum and oil from the surface. Serve hot.

Egg Drop Soup (With Tomato)

If you think soup boiling in crock pot or double-boiler for long hour is troublesome, this soup may save you all the troubles! What you need do is to boil some chicken stock on weekend and store it up for use on weekdays. Sounds easy and practical, right?

When I made this, basically vegetables were out of stock, except for 2 tomatoes and some spring onion left in the fridge. So, I decided to pair it up with 2 free range eggs to make this soup. Ended up, it's edible. :) You can always try it with baby spinach or mint leaves. It will taste much better. 

Egg Drop Soup

Serves 2

Ingredients:

500ml of chicken stock
2 free range eggs, beaten
2 tomatoes, diced
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped

Seasoning:

Salt to taste
dash of white pepper
few drops of sesame oil

Garnishing:

1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
1 tbsp of fried garlic

Steps:

1. Bring the chicken stock to boil in a pot. Add the diced tomato and leave it simmering for a while.

2. Pour in the beaten egg around the pot in a clock-wise manner. Do not stir the soup until the egg is cooked.

3. Add seasoning and garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.