Fried Cabbage

Fried Cabbage

This dish is one of those that remind me of home, something that is often cooked by my Mum.  Once again, all it takes is a few simple ingredients, a few minutes of cooking and you are done!

Ingredients:
Cabbage, cut finely
Carrot, cut into thin strips
Garlic, minced
Light soya sauce
Cooking oil

1. Heat up a little oil in a wok, then stir fry garlic until fragrant.
2. Add in cabbage and carrot and stir fry for a few minutes.  (Add a little water to the wok and cover for quicker cooking)
3. Add some light soya sauce and stir fry to mix in evenly and it's ready to serve!

Fried Cauliflower

Vegetables are the quickest and simplest things to cook!  Other then chopping them up into appropriate sizes, my favourite way of cooking them is with garlic.  As a rule of thumb, get a nice mix of colours both for presentation as well as a good mix of vitamins and minerals!

Ingredients:
Cailiflower, cut into small florets
Snow peas, cut on the diagonal
Red pepper, cut into small pieces
Garlic, minced
Light soya sauce
Cooking Oil

1. Heat up frying pan and add some oil to the pan.
2. When oil is hot, add in garlic and fry until fragrant on low-medium heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. (Note: burnt garlic tastes bitter... urggh)
3. Add in all the other vegetables and season with some light soya sauce.
4. Add a little water, mix well in the pan and cover with lid for a few minutes until cauliflower is cooked.  Serve warm with rice.

Fried Cauliflower

Steamed Egg with Minced Pork

Steamed egg with minced pork

This is a dish that screams: "Home-cooked comfort food!!!"  Simple, unpretentious, nutritious food that reminds me of Mummy dearest.

Ingredients:
Eggs, beaten
Minced pork
Light soya sauce
white pepper

1. Mix eggs and minced pork together in a shallow plate.  Mix in some light soya sauce and pepper to taste and spread it out evenly.
2. Steam for about 5-10 minutes or until meat is fully cooked.  Best eaten warm with rice or porridge.

Now, isn't this super simple??

Onion Omelette

Years ago, when I was overseas for a course, this simple, humble dish brought me straight home - onion omelette.  This gave me the taste of home while I was thousands of kilometres away, it reminded me of Mum cooking in the kitchen each day, making sure we kids had the best food ever...

Onion Omelette

Ingredients:
Eggs, beated
Red onions, sliced
Cooking oil

1. Heat up a little cooking oil in a pan, then add onions and fry until slightly translucent and fragrant.
2. Pour cooked onions into beaten egg and mix well.
3. Pour egg mixture into pan and cook for a while, flip over and cook a little while more and the omelette is ready to be served!

Turmeric Chicken Drumlets

Want something easy to cook yet unique enough for the guests to talk about over dinner?  Try these exotic Tumeric Chicken Drumlets!

Tumeric Chicken Drumlets

Ingredients:
Chicken drumlets
Turmeric powder, a dash or two
Light soya sauce
Black pepper

1. Marinate chicken drumlets with turmeric powder (not too much or it'll end up bitter!), light soya sauce and some black pepper for at least 30 minutes.  I like to marinate the chicken for a few hours or even overnight.
2. Bake them in the oven at 160°C for about 45 minutes (or until cooked), turning them every 15 minutes or so.
3. Serve immediately!  Now wasn't that easy? ;)

Healthy Seafood Soup

There's something warm and fuzzy about drinking a warm bowl of soup when it's cold and rainy, or when you are feeling under the weather.  All it takes is some boiling over the stove and you can practically dump in anything that you like.  For today, I have Seafood Soup!

Healthy Seafood Soup

Ingredients:
Garlic, a few cloves
Chicken bones
Carrots, cut into 1-inch long wedges
Tomato, cut into wedges
Fish, sliced (I used Mackerel here)
Prawns, shelled and cleaned
Lettuce, a bunch of leaves washed
Light soya sauce
White pepper

1. For the soup, bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the garlic, chicken bones, and carrots.  Scoop out scum as necessary.  Remember to lower the fire once it gets to a furious boil at the start.  I like to boil my soup base for about 20-30 mins.
2. While boiling the soup base, prepare all other ingredients.
3. When soup base is ready, remove chicken bones and garlic.
4. Turn the fire up and add in tomato, fish and prawns and boil until fish and prawn are just cooked.
5. Throw in lettuce and give a quick stir.  Add light soya sauce and a dash of white pepper to taste.  The healthy seafood soup is now ready to be served!

Simple Salad

Simple Salad

There are times where I just want something simple, something easy to throw together.  This salad couldn't be any easier.  Grab a head of butterhead lettuce, pluck out the stalk, and wash the leaves together with some yellow cherry tomatoes.  Toss them into a bowl and drizzle a little salad dressing of your choice.  What can be easier than that?

Garlic Bread

What's better than baking your own bread?  It's making your own garlic bread!  When I was a kid, we used garlic spread from the bottle and that was the only way I knew how to make garlic bread.  Actually, it's really simple..... all you need is: bread, butter and garlic!

Mince up some garlic and give it a good mix with some butter.  Spread this mixture on some bread and toast it.  That's it!

Garlic Bread

Steamed Fish

Steaming fish is THE easiest way to cook a nutritious meal.  Wait.... can this even be considered as cooking?  All you need to do is:

1) Place fish (I used Sea Bass here) in a plate and top with lots of ginger.
2) Season with some light and dark soya sauce and a dash of white pepper
3) Add a little water and steam till just cooked, about 5-10 minutes depending on the size and cut of your fish.  (I usually add a little water so that I have some gravy to pour over my rice)
4)  Enjoy the fish with a bowl of rice!

Steamed Fish with Rice

From the washing point of view, there's only 1 plate for the fish!

Planting Experiment: Carrot

Read online that you can plant carrots really easily -- cut up the parts that you usually cook/eat and stick the top part in soil!  Look at this, such cute leaves!!

Carrot

As a side note, this carrot was completely utilised:
1) top end planted
2) bottom tip composted
3) centre portion eaten.... yummy =p