Fish Ball Meehoon Soup

All I want for winter is something soupy & something hot!

Fishball Meehoon Soup

Fish Ball Meehoon Soup (40 mins)

Mee hoon
A loose handful of big dried shrimps (har mai in Cantonese) *Key Ingredient!*
Chicken stock (yes, I used the store-bought Maggi chicken stock)
Baby kailan
3 mushrooms
Fish balls

Salt

1. Boil 2.5 bowls of water in a pot. The formula is 1 bowl of water per person and approximately half a bowl more to allow for evaporation. Add about 1.5 teaspoons of chicken stock & big dried shrimps and let the soup boil for about half an hour to get it all sweet and tasty. 
2. Soak the mushrooms in warm water and set aside.
3. Soak the meehoon in a tub of water. A huge bale of meehoon should be enough for 2, or if you are using the small packets, then 2 small bales should suffice.
4. Soak the baby kailan and then rub each leaf under running water to get the chemicals off. 
5. Soak the fish balls for a short while before rinsing them off.
6. The mushrooms should be soft by now, drain them & cut into small long pieces. I usually use scissors instead of a knife - it's quicker. Add the sliced mushrooms to the soup. 
7. Let the soup boil for about another 1 minute.
8. Next, drain the water from the meehoon and add it to the soup, followed by the fishballs and the baby kailan. 
9. Let it all boil until the meehoon is sufficiently soft.
10. Taste the soup, if necessary, add a pinch of salt.
11. Serve.

Hainanese Chicken (minus the rice) using the Magic Saver Cooker

Behold further wonders from the trusty magic pot!

Hainanese Chicken

Hainanese Chicken using the Magic Saver Cooker (40 mins)

Chicken drumsticks, or chicken wings or breast meat whichever you prefer
Ginger
Black sauce (thick caramel sauce)

Salt

1. Defrost the chicken and then peel off the skin. You can skip this if you like to eat chicken skin. 
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly and salt it all over, before rinsing it again. 
3. Peel and cut up some ginger. Then, mince it until it looks like, well, minced ginger. If you have a pestle and mortar, that would work better but as I don't, I just keep chopping it up with my chopper until it looked very well minced. 
4. Pour some water into the magic saver cooker for boiling. The water level should be about 1 inch high. If you are cooking a whole chicken, the water level should be about 2 inches high.
5. Once the water is boiled, put in the chicken, close the lid and boil for about 7 minutes (for a small chicken) or 10 minutes (if the chicken is bigger).
6. Turn off the fire and place the pot in the magic saver cooker for half an hour.
7. Remove the chicken and put a pinch of salt into the water, which by now should be some sort of chicken stock; boil for a bit.
8. Serve the chicken with the soup, ginger and black sauce.

Steamed Vegetables

Sometimes it's hard to believe that healthy things can taste great...but they do!

Steamed Cauliflower and Carrots

Steamed Vegetables (20 mins)

Cauliflower, carrots, broccoli or your favourite vegetables

Salt

1. Soak the vegetables in a tub of clean water, then wash them.
2. Peel the skin of the carrots, then slice them into french-fry shapes (see picture below).
3. Use a pair of scissors to cut off the little 'trees' of the broccoli and cauliflower. I find that using scissors is easier, cleaner and reduces the crumbly bits that fall out. 
4. Place all the vegetables on a stainless steel plate. 
5. Place a steaming rack in the middle of a wok or non-stick frying pan. Then, fill the wok/pan with water; the water level should be slightly lower than the top of the steaming rack. 
6. Put the stainless steel plate on top of the steaming rack, then cover the wok and leave the vegetables to steam away merrily for about 10 - 15 minutes or until as tender as you like. You can use a fork to test the tenderness of the veggies. 
7. Serve.

How to cut carrots into rectangular shapes (like French Fries)

Mashed Potatoes

The good things in life are the simple ones.

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes (30 mins)

2 potatoes

1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
Salt
Black pepper

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes.
2. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until really soft. Soft = Very little effort required to poke the potatoes with a fork!
3. Drain the water and leave the potatoes in the pot. The heat will cause excess water to evaporate. 
4. Add the milk and butter. As for the salt and pepper, add as you taste until you have achieve the desired taste.
5. Mash the potatoes (I used a fork to mash and it worked very well). 
6. Serve.

Agar-agar Gula Melaka (Brown Sugar Jelly)

A refreshing and (somewhat) healthy dessert!

Agar-agar Gula Melaka (Brown Sugar Jelly)

Agar-agar Gula Melaka (Brown Sugar Jelly) (10 mins)

1 cup agar-agar (Vegetarian gelatin)

3 "cylinders" brown sugar (refer picture below)
4 cups water

1. Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Make sure all ingredients are well mixed together before turning off the fire. 
3. Let the mixture cool down before spooning it into the jelly mould. 
4. Put it into fridge. 
5. Before serving, remove the agar-agar from the mould.
6. Serve.

Baked Fish with Dried Chillies

When I was a kid, we had fish almost every day. I used to grumble about it, now I'm thankful when there's fish on the table!

Baked Yellow Croaker with Dried Chillies

Baked Fish with Dried Chillies (45 mins)

Yellow croaker or your favourite fish

As many dried chillies as you like
Salt

1. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
2. Defrost the fish, which has been scaled and gutted by your kind fishmonger, then wash it thoroughly under running water. 
3. Rub a pinch of salt all over the fish for taste. 
4. Use a pair of scissors to cut the dried chillies into smaller pieces. 
5. Make a few slits on both sides of the fish and then stuff the chillies into the slits. 
6. Bake the fish for 40 minutes.
7. Serve.

Shellfish Fried Rice

Another really easy all-in-one dish in 10 minutes!

Shellfish Fried Rice

Shellfish Fried Rice (10 mins)

Shellfish

Cooked rice (preferably cooked the night before and refrigerated)
Garlic
2 eggs
Salt

1. Soak, rinse and drain the defrosted shellfish repeatedly until the sediments are gone. I did this about 5 times. This is the only tedious part.
2. Crush, chop and dice 3/4 bulb of garlic.
3. Heat up the non-stick frying pan, pour in some oil. In the mean time, crack 2 eggs into a bowl and beat them thoroughly. 
4. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic until slightly golden brown. 
5. Add shellfish AND rice and stir-fry for a bit.
6. Quickly pour in the eggs and mix well. The trick is not to fry it for too long because the shellfish will become rubbery if cooked for too long.
7. Serve.