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]

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Scallop Congee

Christmas is just around the corner and I finally roasted it! I’ve always wanted to roast a lamb roll, boneless lamb shoulder roll to be exact, and last Sunday was the perfect opportunity for me to try this out. The boneless lamb shoulder roll was lying in the freezer and begging for a change in temperature from the freezing compartment to the oven which was just sitting across the kitchen.

It was an easy roast and I complimented the meal with baked potatoes and carrots. On the table were fresh garden salad, 3 varieties of pasta, mushroom pasta sauce and juicy jumbo sausages. Dessert came in the form of ice kacang and chocolate marble cheesecake. There were 9 adults and we were literally stuffed that night.

But the highlight for me that night was the lamb. It was my maiden roast and it turned out all right. Ingredients are simple and this is definitely something which a novice can try. I won’t say it’s an original recipe of mine as I got some ideas here and there and there are thousands of such recipes on the net. But it is definitely a tried, tested and given the thumbs-up recipe. Surprise your family and friends with this easy roast this Christmas!

This is the recipe for Roasted Boneless Lamb Shoulder Roll

Ingredients

• 1 boneless lamb shoulder roll (1.5kg)

Marinate

• 1 bulb garlic (smashed)
• a few sprigs of rosemary
• a few sprigs of thyme
• salt
• crushed black pepper

Sauce

• Fat dripping (see below)
• 30 to 50 grammes of butter
• 2 to 3 tablespoons of plain flour
• 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• Salt
• Crushed black pepper
• Liquid (Water / stock / red wine)

Method

Pat dry the lamb roll. Rub the marinate all over the lamb and leave overnight in the fridge. Ensure that lamb is brought to room temperature prior to roasting.

Pre-heat oven to 180° Celcius. Place lamb on rack in the middle of the oven with a tray to collect the dripping fat. Roast for 90 minutes or 30 minutes for every 500 grammes of lamb.

Remove from oven and cover with foil for 20 minutes before carving.

To make Sauce, slowly melt butter in sauce pan before adding flour. Stir briskly until flour becomes a rough sandy texture. Add fat dripping and liquid till the sauce turns to the consistency that you like (runny / thick). Add worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

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Roasted Boneless Lamb Shoulder Roll

I was never really a fan of carrot cakes all these while probably because I never had any good experience eating a good carrot cake out there. Maybe the thought of eating a “vegetable” cake deterred me from wanting to try this out compared to chocolate cakes or cheese cakes. Anyway, not any longer ever since we got ourselves a Fagor oven in our new house. Carrot cake rocks! More so when it is topped with lemon cream cheese frosting and eaten slightly chilled.

My wife made this a couple of weeks back and I’m now a fan of carrot cakes. Moist and nutritious, this carrot cake is laden with freshly grated carrots, sweetened pineapples, oven-toasted walnuts and plump raisins. I think the best part that there is no mixer involved (with a little caveat that a mixer would be required to prepare the frosting). Just get yourself a big bowl and spatula and give it a good mix ala manual

What makes this carrot cake so special that I have decided to call it the Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe? Well, it’s been handed down from my mother-in-law to my wife, it tastes good as reported by many who have tasted this and most of all, one piece is never enough. Need I say more?

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 240 grammes carrots (grated)
• 120 grammes pineapples (tinned, drained and chopped)
• 60 grammes raisins (lightly chopped)
• 60 grammes walnuts (toasted, cooled and chopped coarsely)
• 240 grammes self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
• 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons vanilla essence (add to eggs)
• 3 eggs
• 210 grammes castor sugar
• 180 ml cooking oil

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 60 grammes butter (room temperature)
• 230 grammes cream cheese (room temperature)
• 230 grammes icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 lemon (grate the skin)

Method

Sift the flour with soda and baking powder. Add castor sugar.

Whisk eggs until frothy in a separate bowl. Add in vanilla essence.

Pour egg mixture into the flour and stir well. Then add grated carrots followed by cooking oil. Add in the chopped pineapples and stir well.

Then add in the raisins and walnuts.

Pour mixture into a greased and floured tray and bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to stand to cool before applying frosting.

Frosting

Put cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed till blended. Gradually add icing sugar (sifted) and continue beating until smooth.

Add vanilla essence and grated lemon and allow to beat till well combined.

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The Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe

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.

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Black Soybean Milk

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.

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Roasted Spicy Brinjals

Another lala recipe? Forgive me but I am quite a fan of lala clams and since the lala clams were looking really fresh in the wet market, I couldn’t resist getting my hands on 1 kg of these sweet tasting clams. Initially, I had wanted to whip up a kamheong lala dish but later realised that I’d forgotten to get two of the essential kamheong lala ingredients : curry powder and curry leaves. Without those two ingredients, kamheong lala just won’t be kamheong lala. I’ll kamheong another day then.

Thankfully, as I rummaged through my kitchen, I found some lemongrass and ginger as well as freshly grown bird’s eye chillis. Mum recently moved to my old apartment and I am now babysitting two of her prized bird’s eye chilli plants. In case you are still wondering what is bird’s eye chilli, it is also known as cili padi – probably the hottest local chilli available in this region.

This recipe uses simple but aromatic ingredients which help to lend the dish a sweet and fragrant taste whilst masking any potential “fishy” smell – which is unlikely unless your lala clams are not fresh. Read this post to find out how to prepare lala clams before cooking. Now, though this recipe looks like a stirfry dish, with a little bit of imagination, you can turn this into a sweat inducing and appetising soup. Just add more of the ingredients and water

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Lala with LemonGrass and Bird’s Eye Chilli

Ingredients

• 1 kg lala clams (rinsed and washed thoroughly to remove mud, sand and grime)
• 2 stalks lemongrass (hammered with the flat side of a knife to bruise it)
• 5 cm of ginger (slivered)
• 3 shallots (chopped finely)
• 4 to 10 bird’s eye chilli / cili padi (cut lengthwise, remove seeds to reduce hotness)
• 1/2 to 1 cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Seasoning

• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in wok. Add shallots, ginger, lemongrass and bird’s eye chilli. Stir briskly until shallots just starts to brown.

Add lala clams and stir well. Add 1/2 to 1 cup water and close the lid of the wok allowing water to reboil. Stir occasionally until lala clams open up.

Add salt to taste and dish up. Do not overcook the lala clams or they will turn rubbery.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

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Stir Fried Lala with LemonGrass and Bird’s Eye Chilli

This is a delicious and easy vegetable side dish, easy to cook and tastes really good. I used kailan (aka jie lan, Chinese broccoli, Chinese kale) – which is a popular vegetable in Chinese cooking. It is highly nutritious and has an inherently slight bitter taste (hence sugar is added during boiling to neutralize the slight bitterness).

As a result of brief boiling to cook the kailan, the vegetable is nicely cooked and retains its crunchiness while the dried scallops (kan bei) jazzes up the dish by making it sweeter and more interesting. I learnt this recipe from watching the local (Singapore) variety show三菜一汤and this was one of the dishes whipped up by Mediacorp artiste Michelle Chong. I was impressed with both her culinary skills and her recipe. I tried the recipe soon after watching the show and I really love it, so yummy. I made this from memory after watching the show so I am probably not following her recipe 100% but the end result is still good. Hope you like the recipe too.

This is the recipe for Kailan with Shredded Scallops

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

• 300g kailan leaves
• ½ tablespoon chopped garlic
• 4 dried scallops
• Cornstarch solution (about ½ tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp plain water)
• 50ml stock/plain water
• Olive oil/vegetable oil
• Sugar

Directions

Give scallops a clean rinse, then soak them in a dish of water (just enough to cover) for at least half an hour to soften them.

In a wok or saucepan, add water (just about enough to cover the kalian), a bit of vegetable/olive oil and a bit of sugar. When water boils, add in kailan to cook for about 3-5 minutes until cooked (do not overcook). Take out the cooked kalian and arrange on a plate.

In a clean wok, heat a bit of oil and sauté garlic till fragrant. Use your fingers to separate the scallops strands and add in wok. Reserve the water from soaking the scallops.

Add water previously used for soaking the scallops, as well as some stock/plain water. Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes and thicken with cornstarch solution till the desired consistency. Drizzle the mixture over the cooked kailan.

Wiffy, a cheerful Singaporean lady who describes herself as a NoobCook dished out this recipe as my Guest Chef this time around. Yet, the food that she whips up certainly shows that she is not a noobcook as her recipes (which comes with great looking photographs) have been featured in a number of websites. Do check out the droolicious recipes on her site.

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Kailan with Shredded Scallops

When I was an undergraduate studying in the UK, you will always find me buying chicken wings almost on a weekly basis because it’s one of the cheapest chicken parts available. Apparently, for non-Asians, chicken wings are mainly for the grill rather than stir-fries. So, it has lesser demand compared to the chicken breast or drumstick.

Here in Kuala Lumpur, and probably other parts of Malaysia, grilled chicken wings are commonly found in Chinese coffeeshop eateries. Amongst the most famous is Wong Ah Wah Grilled Chicken Wings located at Jalan Alor Peel. But today’s post is not about Wong Ah Wah’s Grilled Chicken Wings. Today’s post is about how I finally started to use my brand new oven to cook something for myself whilst looking forward to sharing the same with all of you.

As always, I prefer something  simple and doable. So, this oven-grilled chicken wings recipe only requires ingredients which you can easily find and are likely to be sitting in your kitchen and fridge right now.  Feel free to experiment with the marinade as each person’s taste buds vary. Cooking time needs to be adjusted depending on the size of the chicken wings used and the portions to be cooked. A peek into the oven every 10 minutes to check for doneness would be recommended.

This is my recipe for Oven-Grilled Chicken Wings

Ingredients

• 5 chicken wings (medium size, cleaned and pat dry)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Marinate

• 1 – 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 3 tablespoons of ginger juice
• 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornflour

Method

Place chicken wings in a bowl and mix well with marinating ingredients. Cover and allow to marinade in the fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 150 degrees celcius.

Drizzle baking pan with olive oil before placing chicken wings on the pan. Sprinkle some black pepper powder over the chicken wings (optional).

Bake the chicken wings for 30 minutes or till cooked. To check whether the chicken wings are thoroughly cooked, take a sharp knife / chopstick and pierce through the most fleshy part of the wings till it reaches the bone. If clear juice runs out, it is cooked. If not, cook further.

Once chicken wings are cooked, remove juice from pan. Change oven setting to top grille at 200 degrees celcius and grille chicken wings till desired brownness.

Serve hot.

If desired, the juice which has been removed from the pan can be reduced in a cooking pan with a little cornflour.

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Oven-Grilled Chicken Wings