Pea Sprout Stir-Fry

We've been eating pea sprout for 2 consecutive weeks. It's hubby's favorite veggie that I seldom cook. When I ask him to buy one type of "occasionally cook" vegetable, he'll bring back some pea sprout from the market. 

This time, instead of get it stir-fried with sambal belacan, I stir-fried it with garlic and garnish with fried anchovies. This is a new cooking method to satisfy his tummy.

Pea Sprout Stir-Fry
Ingredients:
Pea sprouts
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
cooking oil
20ml of water

Seasonings:
1 tbsp of rice wine
salt to taste

Garnishing:
Fried anchovies

Steps:
1. Heat oil in a wok. Sauté garlic till fragrant. Add pea sprout to stir-fry.
2. Add some water and seasonings. Bring to boil.
3. Dish out and garnish with fried anchovies.

Bowles Mint Cough Remedy

Last week when I pay a visit to my sister's place, I noticed that she grows her potty garden very well. I asked for few stems of Bowles mint leaves (the species that is big and furry type). I used the leaves to boil a pot of natural cough remedy to soothe my cough. Then, the steams are planted.

This type of mint leaves have very strong smell. You'll either love it or hate it. Of course, I like it a lot. It's very refreshing.

Bowles Mint Cough Remedy

Ingredients:
2 liter water
30 Bowles mint leaves
2 thumb-sized ginger, peeled and sliced
brown sugar to taste

Steps:
1. Bring water to boil in a pot.
2. Add ginger and Bowles mint leaves. Leave it simmers for half an hour.
3. Add brown sugar to taste. Serve warm.

Chicken Salad

This chicken salad is very easy to make even if you don't know how to cook. The secret is in its dressing. If you like sourish, spicy, and the smell of Parsley, you'll like my chicken salad. If you don't like Parsley, you can replace it with other herbs of your favorite. Feel free to play around to mix your own dressing to your liking.

Chicken Salad


Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, skinned

Salad Dressing:
1 ripe tomato, cubed
6 bird's eye chili, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 lemon, juiced
salt
sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
Parsley, chopped

Steps:
1. Steam the chicken breast until it's cooked thoroughly. I steam it for 18 minutes. Leave it cool.
2. Hand-pull the chicken breast.
3. Mix up all the ingredients for the salad dressing.
4. Pour the dressing over the hand-pulled chicken.
5. Keep it refrigerate. Serve cold.

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.

Asam Curry Squid

Since I started cooking 3 years ago, I have not tried cooking a squid cuisine. Out of sudden, I miss the asam curry squid my mum used to cook. So, I got my dad to buy half kilo of squid from the wet market. My mum helped to clean the squid and it was delivered home by hubby. So it's ready for cooking. Oh, how lucky I am to stay close to my parents. :)

With the ready made fresh curry paste and some herbs, this dish was easily done. The asam curry is tangy and spicy. Just perfect to satisfy my sudden crave. :)

Asam Curry Squid

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

500gm small-sized squid, skinned and cleaned

1 onion, peeled and sliced

4 Kaffir lime leaves

1 Kadok leaf, cut into thin strips

3 stalk of lemon grass (the white portion), pounded

fresh curry paste

1 ping-pong sized tamarind pulp mixed with 1 cup of water, sieved

cooking oil

Seasonings:

Light soy sauce to taste

Sugar to taste

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a wok. Sauté onion till fragrant. Add lemon grass, Kaffir lime leaves, curry paste and sauté till oil separated.

2. Add squid and quick stir-fry under high heat. 

3. Pour in tamarind juice and bring to boil. Add light soy sauce and sugar to taste.

4. Dish out and garnish with Kadok herbs. Serve hot with rice.