Since I got a picture of it, let me introduce what this is.  Chuan Bei is included in many off-the-shelf chinese cough medicine.  This helps to relieve cough.  Apparently there are many grades of it.  I’m not a expert which is the best, but I will go for at least the mid range to high range.  It cost in the range of S$15-S$20 for a tael  (liang).  The shop keep should be able to advise, as some are less bitter.

Other than boiling drinks like the pear drink to relief cough, it can also be used as a ”filler” grounded with pearl (珍珠）into fine powder, which is fed to babies or toddlers (in the grounded form) when they have lots of phlegm.  As the amount of pearl is so little, chuan bei makes a good ”filler”, ie ground together with the pearl to increase the content of the final gounded powder.  It not only act as a filler (to increase the quantity for easy feeding) but also helps to relief cough, which usually comes with phlegm.  You don’t have to grind it yourself, the shopkeeper of the chinese medicine shop has their special mortar and pestle to grind them. 

Ingredients

1. 1 Gobo (ngau bong or 牛蒡) Stick
2. Some Wolfberry (Kei Chi or 枸杞子)
3. Water

Method:

1. Wash and peel the skin of the gobo.
2. Break or cut into smaller sizes so that they can fit into the pot.
3. Wash some wolfberry.
4. Put all into the slow cooker.
5. Add about 3/4 pot of water and boil (I set it to auto and boiled over night).

Ingredients (serve 2 cups)

1. 1 Apple or pear (梨)
2. 1 Chinese tablespoon chuan pei mu (Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae, 川贝母) (about 1/3 liang, or 13 grams)
3. 1 ½ Chinese tablespoon north almonds (北杏)
4. 1 ½ Chinese tablespoon south almonds (南杏)
5. 1 Chinese tablespoon rock sugar
6. 3 bowls water

Method

1. Remove the skin of apple or pear, cut into quarters and remove the core.
2. Wash the almonds.
3. Wash the Chuan Pei, and lightly crush it with stone pestle or anything hard (like the handle of your cleaver).
4. Put all ingredients in pot with water, and bring to boil.
5. Once boiled, lower to small fire and simmer for 1 hour (very low heat to prevent drying up of contents). 
6. Sieve and drink the water. (about 1 ½ bowls left)

Here is a picture of how chuan bei mu (川贝母) looks like

Ingredients (2 servings)

1. 8 slices of Pork slices (aprox)
2. 8 slices Grouper or Toman Fish slices (aprox)
3. 6 Prawn (aprox)
4. 1 Squid
5. 2 brunch of Chinese flowering cabbage (菜心, Cai Xin, Choy Sum), or any other vegetables of your choice.
6. 4 table spoon Light Soya Sauce
7. 1 table spoon oyster sauce
8. ½ teaspoon Sugar
9. 2 cup Water or stock
10. 1/2 teaspoon Salt
11. 4 teaspoon Corn Flour
12. 1 egg
13. 4 tablespoon cooking oil. (optional you can use lard although it is not healthy)
14. 2 garlic.

Method

1. Wash and slice pork and fish.  Remove shell of prawn except the tail portion. 
2. Wash and remove the skin of the squid (the purple color thin layer), cut into strips.  Optionally you may cut “flower” but doing diagonal crisscross scores (do not cut through) on the inner side so that when cook will flip and present a nice pattern.
3. Wash and cut the cabbage into sections.
4. Minced garlic
5. Mix corn flour with ¼ cup water.
6. Beat eggs with 1 tablespoon of the corn flour solution in step 5.
7. Heat up wok, add oil and garlic and stir till fragrant.
8. Add in pork, fish, prawn, squid and stir fry till almost cook.  Add in vegetable and water.  Leave it to boil and keep boiling for 3 minutes.  Add in salt, sugar, soya sauce and oyster sauce.  Add more salt if you like it saltier. 
9. Slowly pour in the corn flour solution until the required thickness (when you lift up the stirrer, a thin layer will cling on the stirrer like glue. (discard the rest, don’t add all when the thickness is reached, otherwise the gravy is too thick)
10. Bring it to boil, pour in the egg and stir the gravy at the same time to prevent the egg from cooking into a lump. It should flow nicely into soft egg strips.  Turn off flame immediately, and do not let it boil again.
11. Pour over the pre-cooked Hor fun and serve.

This is how you prepare it.  Best if you have a Chinese metal wok (to really give the smell of the wok), or any frying pan will do, since most family don’t use metal wok in Singapore.  Heat up the wok very hot, add oil and garlic, and add in the noodle and fry with high heat.  Add in Dark soya sauce (2 tablespoon for 1 serving of noodles), by streaming slowly (don’t pour at the same spot) evenly on the noodles as well as some on the wok (to allow it to create some burnt smell), keep stirring at the same time. Serve on plate when done (5 mins will probably be enough).  Recipe of the gravy will be posted later.

Ingredients

For filings

1. 600 gms raw peanuts
2. 300 gms fine sugar

For dough

1. 600 gms wheat flour
2. 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with ½ cup water
3. 1 tablespoon margarine
4. 1 egg

For frying

1. Oil for deep frying

Method

Filing

1. In a pan without oil, stir fry peanuts with low heat, until fragrant (skin a little burnt). Refer to tips for more information.
2. Leave it to cool, and remove the skin.  Crush it with food processor. Mixed with sugar.

Dough

1. Sieve the flour on a mixing table, and make a heap.  Make a depression in the middle, and crack in the egg, and margarine. Mix in the flour slowly with fingers, and adding the sugar water slowly. 
2. Keep mixing and adding water slow until a soft dough is form.  If the sugar solution runs out, use plain water.  Cover with damp cloth for 1 hour.
3. Separate into smaller portion, roll out with rolling pin, and make mini-puffs filled with peanuts and sugar mixture. (either using fingers to fold, or you get some gadget to help you make the puffs)
4. Deep fry till golden brown.
5. Keep in air tight container when totally cooled down.

 Vegetarian (with eggs).

Ingredients (for 1 serving)

1. ½ bowl Yellow noodles
2. ½-1 bowl Kuay teow (flat rice noodles) (should have slightly more proportion of kuay teow)
3. 1 egg
4. 2 tablespoon light soya sauce
5. 2 tablespoon sweet dark soya sauce
6. few slices fish cake
7. few slices of Chinese winter sausage (lap cheong, 臘肠)
8. ¼ bowl or handful of bean sprout (豆芽)
9. 1 garlic
10. Prawn and/or squid (optional, up to your liking on the ingredients)
11. 4 tablespoon cooking oil (you may use lard for this, taste good but not healthy)
12. Chilli paste (can get from supermarket) optional.

Method

1. Wash the beans sprout, minced the garlic, slice the fish cake and winter sausage.  Wash and cut prawn and squid into pieces. 
2. Heat up wok, add oil and fry the garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in winter sausage, and other ingredient like prawn or squid.
4. Add in bean sprout, noodles and kuay teow. Stir fry with high heat, and add in soya sauce and continue to stir fry for about 3-4 mins.   If you like spicy, add the chilli paste.
5. Push the content to a side of the wok, and add a little more oil, crack in the egg and break the yoke and briefly scramble the egg.  When egg is about ¾ cooked, pushed in the rest and stir fry.  Add in ¼ cup water, and the sweet soya sauce, stir for another 1 mins and serve.  (it should be a little damp to be nice and soft.
6. Serve hot.

1. 1 cucumber
2. 1 tablespoon dried shrimp (虾米)
3. 1/4 teaspoon sugar
4. ½ teaspoon salt
5. 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
6. ½ cup water
7. 2 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

1. Wash the dried shrimp and soak it in half cup of water for 1 hour.
2. Cut the top of the cucumber and rub till the foams appear (to make it less bitter).  Wash and cut the cucumber length wise into half and then quarters.  Cut and discard the seeds.  Cut the cucumber diagonally into thick strips.
3. Heat up wok, and add in oil.
4. Drain the dried shrimp (Do no pour away water), and fry in the heated oil till fragrant.
5. Add in the cucumber and fry for 1 min and pour in the water used to soak the dried shrimp.
6. Cover the wok and let it cook with low heat for 10 mins.  Open and add in salt, sugar, and soya sauce. Mixed around.
7. Serve hot.

Ingredients

1. 2 potato
2. 1-2 carrot
3. 1 big yellow onion
4. 1 tomato
5. 200 grams pork ribs
6. 1 1/2 liters water
7. Salt to taste
8. dash of ground white pepper
9. Spring onion (optional)

Method

1. Peel the potato, and cut into chucks of 3 cm size
2. Peel carrot and cut into wedge chucks (2-3 cm size)
3. Peel Onion, and cut into quarters
4. Wash tomato and cut into quarters
5. Wash pork ribs
6. Put all ingredients 1 to 6 into soup pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 1 ½ hours. 
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Serve hot with dash of ground white pepper, and optional some chop spring onion.

Ingredients

1. Stems of watercress that you did not cook with the soup recipe
2. 5-8 honey dates (金丝蜜枣) (dried dates with sugar)
3. 2 liters water
4. Rock Sugar to taste (optional, or you can add more honey dates)

Method

1. Wash water cress. Put into pot with water and honey date.
2. Boil for 2 hours. Add sugar to taste if you like it sweeter, otherwise the honey dates will have sweeten the drink slightly.
3. Sieve and serve warm or cold.