Bittergourd with Salted Eggs

Eating out always gives me inspiration to try out new dishes!

Bittergourd with Salted Eggs (15 mins)

Bellagio, a Taiwanese restaurant in Beijing is one of our frequently visited restaurants and they have this bittergourd with salted egg dish, which is one of my favourites! My homemade version doesn't taste as fab as theirs does, of course, but I get to satisfy my craving for this dish in the comfort of my home! AND it's terribly easy to whip up. 


Garlic, 4 cloves

1 bittergourd
2 salted duck eggs

1. Wash the bittergourd thoroughly by rubbing and rinsing it under running water.
2. Cut off the edges and then half the bittergourd, then split it open so that you can remove the seeds in the middle. I usually use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds.
3. Slice the bittergourd as thinly as you can manage. When I'm in a hurry, it's not so thin as you can see from the photo above. 
4. Remove the shell from the duck eggs and mash it up with a fork into a bowl until it's all crumbly. 
5. Heat up the non-stick frying pan, pour in some oil. 
6. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic until slightly golden brown. 
7. Add in the bittergourd and the crumbly salted eggs. 
8. Fry until soft. You'll have to cover the frying pan for about 2 minutes to soften the bittergourd. 
9. Serve.

Dry Chicken Curry with Lady's Fingers

Even one hour cooks need to be creative. 

Dry Chicken  Curry with Lady's Fingers (30 mins) 

My fridge is always stocked with pretty much the same ingredients: fish, chicken breast, chicken drumsticks, pork ribs (for soup) and the usual green vege. For a change, sometimes I just use my imagination and hope it turns out OK. 


Chicken breast meat

Curry powder 2 tablespoons
Lady's fingers/okra/lady's thumbs
Garlic
Soy sauce 2 tablespoons
Sesame oil 1 teaspoon

1. Defrost the chicken breast meat before you go to work.
2. After work, wash the chicken breast meat thoroughly under running water. Rub it all over with salt and then rinse it again. Slice the breast meat into small bite-sized pieces. 
3. Marinate the meat by mixing in the curry powder, soy sauce and sesame oil. 
4. Crush, chop and dice 3/4 bulb of garlic.
5. Slice the lady's fingers into thin slices in slightly slanted cuts (if you know what I mean). 
6. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic until slightly golden brown. 
7. Then, add the marinated chicken breast meat and stir-fry it until the meat colour has changed and the meat has shrank a little.
8. Next, add the lady's fingers and fry until cooked. You will need to cover the frying pan for about 2 minutes to soften the meat. 
9. Serve.

Effortless Fried Rice in 10 Mins

When all I have is 10 minutes, but I still prefer home cooked...

Effortless Fried Rice (10 mins)

Garlic

Cooked rice (preferably cooked the night before and refrigerated)
1 packet pre-packed peas+carrots+corn
2 eggs
Soy sauce
Salt

1. Crush, chop and dice 3/4 bulb of garlic.
2. 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. Mix in a tablespoon of soy sauce.
3. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic until slightly golden brown. 
4. Pour in the peas+carrots+corn and stir-fry for a bit.
5. Next, mix in the rice, give it a few stirs, then pour in the eggs. 
6. Fry until it is all evenly mixed. Serve.

Fried Udon (for a change)

It's amazing how the same concept for cooking a certain dish can be applied to different dishes...and turn out great!

Fried Udon for 2 (45 mins)

Garlic
Lots of ginger, more than garlic
125gm udon, approximately 1.5 bunches (see below)

Mushrooms
2 carrots
1/4 cabbage, shredded
2 eggs
Salt

1. Soak the whole, uncut, unpeeled cabbage in clean water. 
2. Soak the mushrooms in warm water.
3. Remove the outer 'leaves' of the cabbage - it's usually dirty as everyone has been handling it. Then, slice off about a 1/4 of the cabbage. Use a very sharp, high quality peeler to 'shred' the cabbage. No cutting or slicing required. Just keep 'peeling' the cabbage with the peeler.
   My peeler is from Kai Housewares and I bought it from Jaya Jusco for RM79.90 (see picture below). I really think it was a wonderfully good investment because the blade is really sharp and the quality of the peeler is great! Worth every sen of my RM79.90. It also comes with an extra replacement blade.
4. Crush, chop and dice the garlic and ginger.
5. Pour away the water from the soaked mushrooms and soak it for a 2nd time in another batch of clean new water; warm if the mushrooms are still hard and cold if the mushrooms are already soft.
6. Wash thoroughly, peel and slice the carrots.
7. Boil the udon in a pot of water for approximately 8 minutes to cook and soften it. As you can see in the picture above, my udon packet consists of 3 bunches of udon weighing 90gm each. For 2 people, I used approximately 1.5 bunches. 
8. 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. 
9. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic+ginger until slightly golden brown. 
10. Pour in the carrots and stir-fry for a bit. Then, add the shredded cabbage and stir-fry it well. 
11. Add in the mushrooms and continue stir-frying.
12. By this time, the udon should be well-boiled. Pour away the water and add the boiled udon to the frying pan. Mix well. 
13. Lastly, add in the eggs. I like my eggs to sort of stick to the udon. If you don't really like that, add the eggs BEFORE you mix in the udon.
14. Add in salt for taste. Fry until it is all evenly mixed. Serve.

My wonderful peeler from Kai Housewares (got it from Jaya Jusco for RM79.90)

Yummy fried udon!