Delicious Food And Beverage fan-Healthy Care And Tips

Yee Mee or Yee Mein (in cantonese) is a type of dried noodles which looks like lengthy rubber-bands. They are brown in colour and usually come shaped like a small cake. It is usually cooked with some sort of rich gravy and in some food courts, you will find it being served on a sizzling hot plate. Though it is quite common, nevertheless, it is still not as popular as the yellow noodles, bee hoon or kuey teow. I think this may have to do with the taste.

In its sold form, the Yee Mee can have a distinctive muski-smell which some might find it a tad artificial. To reduce this “artificial” smell, it is recommended that the Yee Mee be blanched in hot water for a couple of minutes before plunging it into cold water prior to cooking it proper with sauces. You will find that the water used to blanch the Yee Mee will turn brownish and thoroughly unappetising.

In some parts of Malaysia, you can find what is known as Sang Har Meen (fresh prawn noodles) wherein Yee Mee is predominantly used. With that in mind, I decided to cook my very own Braised Seafood Yee Mein using fresh sea prawns and fresh lala clams. I could have boosted the taste further with fresh slices of fish meat and cuttlefish but I couldn’t get my hands on them. Anyway, home cooking is usually not so extravagant. Prawns and lala clams are good enough for this session.

This is my recipe for Braised Seafood Yee Mein

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Yee Mein (1 piece per person)
• 200 grammes lala clams (rinsed thoroughly to remove mud and grime)
• 400 grammes medium prawns (remove shell leaving head and tail intact. Devein. You can also shell it completely. No worries)
• 300 grammes of choy sum (rinse and cut into smaller sizes)
• 3 slices of ginger
• 4 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 500 ml hot water (for cooking)
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil

Seasoning

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch Yee Mee for 2 minutes until semi-soft. Drain and plunge into cold / iced water. Drain.

Heat wok until smoking hot. Add 2 tablespoons oil and 2 teaspoons chopped garlic. As the garlic sizzles, add Yee Mee and stir briskly for 1 minute. Remove and set aside.

In the same wok, add 2 teaspoons chopped garlic and prawns. Stir until prawns have curled up by half. Remove and set aside.

Then add ginger and stir until aromatic. Follow by water and seasoning (except salt, pepper and chinese cooking wine). Bring to boil before adding Yee Mee. Stir well and cover with lid for 1 minute.

Add prawns, choy sum and lala clams. Stir well and cover lid again for an0ther minute. Add salt and pepper to taste followed by chinese cooking wine.

Dish up when prawns have fully curled up and lala clams have opened up. If gravy is too thin for your liking, add a little cornstarch to thicken.

It’s another Saturday and I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the market this morning. Seeing some fresh medium sized brinjals on sale, I couldn’t resist getting my hands into 5 of them, no longer than 8 inches each. So, shall it be sweet and spicy brinjals or another one of the tried and tested brinjal recipes I have attempted so far? Considering that my wife was baking a cake, the oven would have been set up just nicely for a brinjal roast!

I have seen roasted vegetables in cook shows though roasted brinjals are kinda rare. Meanwhile, spicy brinjals are quite common here but I thought I would take it one step further by roasting the brinjals instead. It’s my maiden attempt and I am glad to report that it received favourable reviews from my wife and my sister-in-law. Though the brinjals were roasted, it was still packed with moisture and juicy to bite. The combination of dried prawns, buah keras and other ingredients which made the topping was nicely roasted to a fragrant aroma and delivered a riot of taste with each bite. For those who are not used to eating hot food, you can choose to ease off with the chilli but for those who prefer it sizzling hot, just add more chilli.

I believe the Roasted Spicy Brinjals would be suitable eaten with porridge (I actually had them with plain porridge) or steamed rice and would look incredibly appetising in any parties. Give it a try and be amazed by how delicious such a simple dish could be.

This is my recipe for Roasted Spicy Brinjals

Ingredients

• 5 medium sized brinjals (cut into half lengthwise)
• 50 grammes dried prawns (lightly soaked and drained)
• 5 buah keras (candlenuts)
• 2 cm belacan
• 3 red chillis (chopped as finely as you can)
• 8 shallots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• spring onion for garnishing

Seasoning

• Salt
• Castor sugar

Method

Pound dried prawns, buah keras, belacan, shallots and garlic until well combined. Set aside.

Heat wok and add oil. Saute the combination ingredients above until aromatic and the paste begins to brown. Add chilli and mix well. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Heat up oven to 180° celcius. Meanwhile, oil a baking tray with olive oil.

Sprinkle salt and sugar lightly on fleshy part of brinjal and then coat the flesh with combination ingredients. Lay brinjals (skin side down) on baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes.

Serve hot.

Abalone is a sought after food item for the Chinese community and it is prized for its claimed nutritional value. Scientists are still figuring out whether abalones are indeed high in nutrition but for me, unless you eat it everyday, eating it once a year won’t make a difference to your health. Abalones are probably one of the most expensive sea-produce and it is no wonder that some countries are actively cultivating them for the commercial market – Australia and Chile, to name a few.

There are many ways to cook abalone but the usual ways are in soup and braised with mushrooms. Some restaurants offer abalone yee-sang as well. Be prepared to pay a premium for those. For those at home, one of the most popular way of eating abalone is to make an appetiser out of it. Get a can of abalone, slice it thinly and garnish it with chilli and garlic.

This is my recipe for Abalone Appetiser with Chilli and Garlic

Ingredients

• 1 can of whole abalone (slice abalone thinly. Use the water in the can to boost up your chicken soup)
• 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
• 3 pieces calamansi / limau kastur

Method

Slice abalone thinly and arrange on a serving plate. Wrap with cling film and chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Before serving, sprinkle garlic and chilli over the abalone and squeeze the juice of calamansi over the abalone.

It does not matter whether it is black or white. Black Soybean also known as Black Bean or Black Soya Bean will give you a white looking milk just like its cousin, the soya bean. It may not be common for you to find anyone selling this drink out there but you’d be surprise to know that the cooking method is the same. If you know how to make black soybean milk, you will also know how to make soybean milk

The Black Bean Milk tastes quite similar to the common Soy Bean Milk albeit creamier. It is more expensive to purchase compared to the soy bean but once you’ve made a couple of litres of this, you will then realise that the vendors are making hefty profit out of this nutritious drink (hint : a couple of hundred percent profit). The hardest work involved is the milking process – when you have to squeeze out the milk / juice from the blended beans. Ensure that you get a good filter. I used a cotton coffee filter (the ones which Malaysians use to brew coffee in kopitiams).

Do not keep this drink longer than necessary. Overnight at the most, being kept in the refridgerator. Somehow, my gut feeling is that drinks made from beans are not supposed to last long especially if it did not go through any factory process. Anyway, if you are keen to impress your family or your weekend guests, give this drink a try. It’s nutritious and definitely delicious.

This is my wife’s recipe for Black Soy Bean Milk

Ingredients

• 500 grammes black soy bean (soaked overnight)
• a couple of pandan leaves
• 2.5 litres of water
• Sugar to taste

Method

Drain the black soy bean and place them in a blender. Add some water to cover the beans before blending them finely.

Pour blended black soy bean into a large bowl or pot and add remaining water. Strain / Sieve the contents through a fine muslin cloth.

Place sieved black soy bean milk into a pot, add the pandan leaves and bring to boil very slowly. Ensure that you stir the milk regularly to prevent burning. Turn off the heat immediately upon boiling and allow to cool.

You can either choose to add the sugar whilst bringing the black soy bean to boil or prepare syrup separately and add the syrup prior to drinking.

Serve hot or cold.

source: http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

One of the earliest dishes I tried out at Japanese restaurants was the Chicken Teriyaki. Lightly grilled and basted with the mildly sweet teriyaki sauce, the tender pieces of chicken always go well with steamed rice. Though I’ve seen the teriyaki marinade being sold at the supermarket shelves, I never got around to buying them until a few months ago – now that I have an oven at home.

I never knew that it was so easy to prepare a dish of oven-roasted chicken teriyaki to perfection but that would be a recipe for another day to share with you. For today, let me share with you what I attempted for the first time which resulted in a thumbs up from my wife

Stir-fried boneless chicken with capsicums in teriyaki sauce may be a long name to pronounce but definitely short and easy to cook. Ingredients are simple and cooking time is minimal. I do think that this dish would be better if a couple of slices of onion are included but you won’t be disappointed even if you don’t have it. The capsicums themselves will give a slight robust taste to this dish, not to mention, a crunch to the otherwise tender pieces of chicken.

For the chicken, I chose the whole leg of chicken, completely deboned with skin removed. Breast meat may not be suitable as it is less tender. The skin is removed so that the dish will turn out less oily. Moreover, it would not be suitable to stir fry the chicken with meat intact. If you prefer to have the chicken skin on, roasting would be a better option.

This is my quick recipe for Stir Fried Boneless Chicken with Capsicums in Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 whole leg of chicken (deboned, skin removed and cut into bite sizes)
• 1 capsicum (julienned)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 ½ tablespoons cooking oil (peanut, mixed or palm oil)
• 100 ml hot water

Marinade

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• A couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon of thick teriyaki sauce
• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• A couple of dashes of black pepper powder to taste
• Salt to taste

Method

Season chicken with marinade for about ½ hour before cooking.

Heat wok on high heat till smoky. Add oil, garlic and chicken. Stir briskly. Add capsicums when chicken meat is seared.

Add seasoning and water and bring to boil.

Cook chicken thoroughly and dish up when gravy is reduced.

Serve hot with steamed white rice.

Scallop Congee is one of my most oft cooked congee for weekend lunch. Okay, make it Scallop Porridge for those who are more familiar with the word porridge. Actually, it’s the same. And whichever name you call it, it will still taste as good though I suspect the word “congee” sounds much more sophisticated and refined to be used.

For this congee, I use dried scallops which I purchase from the wet market. You can get them from supermarkets and some chinese herbal shops or even, dried sea produce. I use those which are relatively small in size – perhaps about the size of half a pop corn as they are cheap and easy to cook.

In the picture above, the scallop congee appears white in colour. I have a habit of eating my scallop congee with an egg. What I would do is to break an egg into the bowl and pour boiling congee over it before giving it a good stir. The egg gives the congee a much smoother texture and definitely tastes better. Game for a bowl?

This is my recipe for Scallop Congee

Ingredients

• 3/4 bowl of rice
• about 15 to 20 pieces of dried scallops (rinsed and soaked in water for 30 minutes. Do not discard water)
• 100 grammes of minced pork
• Chopped spring onions
• Sesame oil

Seasoning

• Salt and white pepper powder to taste
• 1 tablespoon light soya sauce

Method

Rinse the rice before placing it into a pot. Add 10 bowls of water plus the water previously used to soak the dried scallops and bring to boil.

Once it starts to boil, add scallops and reduce heat to low. Partially cover with lid and ensure the bubbles do not boil over the pot. Stir once a while.

Simmer until rice is completely cooked (starts to break up) which will take approximately 30 minutes. Add a little boiling water every now and then to keep it runny. Turn off heat and cover lid. Allow to cool for 1 hour.

Before serving, bring congee to boil. Add more boiling water to keep it runny as the congee would have absorb much of the water during the cooling process. Once it boils, add minced pork and stir well. Add seasoning.

Dish up and drizzle a little sesame oil over the congee.

Serve hot and garnish with chopped spring onions and yau char kuey (if available).

[Serves approximately 4 adults - soup bowl size]

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com/