From the category archives:

Chinese

What ears? Pig ears did you say?

by jeroxie September 1, 2010

Pig ears are usually served as an appetizer or side dish in many Chinese dinners. It can have a crunchy texture from the cartilage. I love it soft and very gelatinous. This reminds me of a favourite dish called Kway Chap. It’s flat rice noodles. It is served in a light soy broth with side dishes like soy egg, tau pok (fried beancurd), pig’s intestines, fatty pork, pig ears, salted mustard green and some other side dishes. This dish makes me miss Singapore, the hawker centers and supper after clubbing.

40 comments Full article here

Meat glue fish and meat balls plus steamboat extravaganza

by jeroxie August 12, 2010

I bought a 50g sachet of Transglutaminase that I bought a couple of months ago out of curiosity. Transglutaminase or meat glue bonds protein together and is used industrially to make meat and fish balls. Prior to this, I have tried binding fatty bacon with kangaroo. Just to note, it does not bind fats! The meats still held together and it was quite a challenging taste. Imagine smelling bacon but tasting kangaroo. I was a little thrown off but the overall flavour was really interesting and actually, good!

41 comments Full article here

Meatless Mondays #32 – Leftover fried rice

by jeroxie August 7, 2010

It’s another week that I eat alone. Not every night of course. But a girl still needs to feed herself while partner’s away. I decided to make fried rice using the leftovers from Saturday’s steamboat. I have chrysanthemum leaves, white cabbage, spring onions, garlic, chillies and eggs. Fried rice for me is comfort food. I guess it was one of the dishes that my dad would cook for me when I was younger. Actually, my dad can only cook fried rice but he does it very well.

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Meatless Mondays #31 – Tempeh noodles for one

by jeroxie July 30, 2010

What a week! I am glad that it is almost over. It has been a bit of a rough ride with a project launch. I just find it difficult to fall asleep when there are a millions things to do and I’ve this feeling that something may go wrong while I’m in lala land. My eyebags are reaching my chin and I feel 10 years older.

My unwillingness to sleep can also be blamed on the multiple late nights that I stayed awake during the World CUP, Wimbledon and Tour De France. I need to get back into my proper sleeping pattern again. But wait….. the EPL is starting soon!

24 comments Full article here

Turkey and shitake mushrooms stew

by jeroxie July 5, 2010

It turned out to be a really interesting market trip. Despite the very cold and wet winter morning, the turn out at the Collingwood farmers market was quite amazing. And I almost always bump into fellow food loving friends. As we walked in, we bumped into lovely @essjayeff with her bags full of fresh local ingredients. She gave me some useful updates about chestnuts and quinces. The two ingredients that were high on my hit list.

26 comments Full article here

International Noodles Incident Party – Homemade Ban Mian with minced pork and mushrooms

by jeroxie June 20, 2010

The Chinese has been making and eating noodles since 2000BC. Like rice, it is a part of the staple diet. It is always part of many Chinese festivals like Chinese New Year and also a must have dish on birthdays. I remember that my grandma would make us a bowl of mee sua. We aren’t allowed to ‘cut’ the noodles while eating it as it signifies longevity.

We are spoilt in Melbourne with great food and produce. But there are just some dishes that rarely hit the right spot. One of these dishes is Ban Mian. It is a type of egg noodle that is very popular in both Malaysia and Singapore. Some use anchovies as the base soup and some places have different toppings. I find the broth served here either very bland and the noodles not well made. Or maybe I am just not looking the right places.

54 comments Full article here

Meatless Mondays #24 – Simple Vermicelli

by jeroxie June 11, 2010

This is very simple and honest dish made by Mister. We make this dish with a variation of noodles quite often for the week. It is a no brainer but one of my favourites. I may be a food blogger but certainly not very fussy with foods. If we had the time, we will cook more extravagant meals but having to work long hours, simple foods like this is just as comforting.

30 comments Full article here

International Dumplings Incident Party – Tang Yuan

by jeroxie May 12, 2010

Masterchef Australia has began and in its first challenge, the contestants were told to create something from their childhood memories. We were away in Hobart and so I missed out on that series but I heard that almost everyone had tears! I guess that is the part of being on reality TV. They need tears and stories to hit top ratings. I am sure they succeeded. Even though many will think that contestants should not cry on TV but if it is something touching as childhood memories, then I am sure tears will flow irregardless. It is just that TV makes use of the opportunity to capture it as this is what most audience are after. They love the tears and it is something to bitch about.

64 comments Full article here

Beef short ribs dangmyeong – Noodle Party

by jeroxie March 29, 2010

Noodle Party Invite!

An invitation to a Noodle Party! Christine and the Big Scary Kitchen, Fried Wontons 4 U and Momofuku for 2 are having a virtual noodle party. We’re all going to make our own take on a noodle dish and post them up at the same time. If you are following on twitter, search for hashtag #noodleparty.

I was really glad to be invited to this noodle party by @friedwontons4U and @momofukufor2. It was almost a no go for me as I had too much backlog of posts and own errands to do over the weekend. But I manage to squeeze this in as I failed in my last couple of attempts of cooking dangmyeong. Dangmyeong is a type of glass noodle made from sweet potato starch and it is a very popular noodle used in Korean Cuisine.

28 comments Full article here

Meatless Day Challenge #12 Daikon, carrots & mushroom stew

by jeroxie March 11, 2010

I am always on the lookout for simple and yummy meatless recipe every week. This week’s meatless day dish is inspired by Christine’s Stewed Beancurd Puffs with Daikon & Carrot. It fits the bill and it has been awhile since we have cooked with daikon or also known as white radish. Daikon has a nice subtle sweet but clean taste and it takes on flavour really well. I love it chunky in soups or julienne raw and served in salads.

After a trip to Footscray market, I decided to ditch the tofu puffs and got Enoki mushroom, baby corns and fresh shitake mushrooms. This dish is a collaboration of myself and Mister. I prepped the ingredients, he cooked and I took the photos. And I have to say it turned out pretty good.

25 comments Full article here

My delicious Chinese New Year 2010

by jeroxie March 4, 2010

I need to take a break from all the feasting after this hectic 2 weeks of eating and drinking. It all started a couple of weeks before Chinese New Year where we spent my weekends making pineapple tarts, cashew nut cookies and kuih bangkit. And I made heart-shaped ones because the first day of Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day as well. So more love around for everyone!
A small group of us decided to celebrate both eve and first day of Chinese New Year together. And our place were opened to them. On the eve, we opted to have steamboat. As usual, I volunteered to shop and make 2 types of broth for the evening. The night before was the 30th birthday of 2 friends. Mister and I were shopping totally hungover. We were not a pretty sight. But the party must go on and so we dragged our sorry self to the markets.

22 comments Full article here

Meatless Day Challenge #10 – Hakka Luicha

by jeroxie February 25, 2010

Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. There is almost a different event for each day of celebration. Vegetarian meals are eaten on some days and certain Gods need to be prayed to on others. The seventh day is the birthday of all human beings. In the past, farmers in the villages will gather and make a almost vegetarian dish that consists of a green soup and seven different types of vegetables to celebrate the occasion. So I thought for this week’s challenge, it will be a good idea to introduce to this really amazing peasant dish that was prepared and cooked by a friend’s mum.

These days many Chinese dialect groups will celebrate by having yeesheng. But the Hakka still have the tradition of having luicha for this occasion instead. The soup is made up of mainly basil, coriander, mint, peanuts, sesame seeds, dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and tea leaves. They are cooked, blended together and then placed in the middle of the table.

23 comments Full article here

Cashew nut cookie

by jeroxie February 12, 2010

It was such a lovely sunny day. We really wanted to be outside enjoying the sun but alas Chinese New Year was in a week and a lot more baking needs to be done. I really wanted to have more festive vibes this year. Not being back to Asia for Chinese New Year for more than a decade means those festive celebrations is becoming a distant memories.

After baking a big batch of pineapple tarts the previous day, we opted for something easier and faster. It was Sunday and there was heaps to do. I was slogging in the kitchen making bacon jam and prepping the flour for baking kuih bangkit. Mister found this cookie recipe in the Nonya book and it is his one of his favourite festive goodies. So he jumped in and got his hands dirty. I have admit he is a much better in baking than me. I really suck.

15 comments Full article here

Cookbook Challenge W13 (Love) – Pineapple Tarts

by jeroxie February 11, 2010

Valentine day falls on the first day of Chinese New Year. We have decided to spend it with friends as some of them have become like family. There isn’t much of a festive mood here as we are away from family. So this year, I thought it will be a good idea to make more effort in creating a mood by baking some Chinese New Year favourites.

I have no baking skills. Even when I follow the recipe, something is almost always wrong. So this time, I decided to test run a small batch and have time to make amendments before the New Year. The first batch turned out ugly but tasted good. And the second batch looked better. More presentable. I did increase the amount of cold water that the book had recommended.

41 comments Full article here

Steamed silky eggs

by jeroxie February 8, 2010

I knew exactly what I wanted to make once I saw this week’s challenge. And as many simple dishes, it is usually the hardest to perfect. As an egg lover, steam eggs has to be one of my favourite egg dishes. I love the way it wobbles when it is done perfectly. I love the silky smooth texture. And it is all eggs!

After a day of Chinese New Year baking and an hour of RPM class, I almost gave up on the challenge this week. This weekend seem to fly by. And Chinese New Year is just round the corner. Sometimes I wish time could slow down but then it waits for no one. And so I just got onto it and made some eggs to include for dinner.

19 comments Full article here

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