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.

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!

Easy Peasy Long Beans Porridge

I like to go all vegetarian quite a bit when I'm home, 

because it's easy and healthy!

Warning: This dish is very vegetarian, so unless you 

love greens very much, I wouldn't recommend it.

Long Beans Porridge

Long Beans Porridge (20 mins preparation, Total = Min. 30 mins)

Long beans

Rice (1 cup per person, if you're a fairly big eater)
Eggs (1 egg per person)
Soya sauce

Salt

1. Wash the long beans by rubbing each bean individually, then cut off the ends.
2. Cut the beans into tiny sizes.
3. Beat the eggs and add in 1 teaspoon of soya sauce.
4. Get your magic saver cooker out and wash the rice in it.
5. Add in the eggs and long beans.
6. Bring the whole thing to a boil; every now and then before it boils, give it a few stirs to prevent the porridge from sticking to the pot. Once it boils, add salt, stir and let it continue boiling for another 5 minutes.
7. Put the pot into the magic saver cooker and let it self-cook for 30 minutes.
8. If in a rush, just use a normal pot and let it boil all the way until cooked. Stirring is a must to prevent the porridge from sticking to the pot and burning.
9. Serve.

Mee Hoon Soup

I'm grateful for peeled ikan bilis (anchovies)...

from my mother-in-law!

Mee Hoon Soup Ingredients

Mee Hoon Soup

Mee Hoon Soup (30 mins)
Mee hoon
Peeled ikan bilis (anchovies)
Siu pak choy / baby pak choy / 油菜 in Beijing
Dried mushrooms
Fu chok (dried beancurd skin)
Eggs
Salt

1. Soak the dried mushrooms and fu chok (dried beancurd skin) separately in warm water to soften it. Soak the mee hoon in cold water.
2. Rinse the ikan bilis (anchovies).
3. Start boiling the ikan bilis soup by adding the washed ikan bilis and 3 bowls of water to a pot. The formula is X + 1, with X being the number of people eating. So, if I'm cooking for 2 people, it's 2 + 1 = 3 bowls of water.
4. Soak the siu pak choy and then wash each leaf by rubbing it under running water. 
5. After the laborious task of washing the siu pak choy, the ikan bilis soup should have come to a boil and you would have lowered the fire to let it simmer. 
6. Cut both the softened mushrooms and fu chok into more edible-friendly sizes with a pair of scissors, then add it all into the ikan bilis soup.
7. After letting it boil for about 5 minutes, add in the mee hoon and siu pak choy. Give it all a stir.
8. Crack in the egg and cover the egg with some mee hoon to help it cook faster.
9. Taste the soup, if bland, add some salt. Add water if the soup dries up.
10. Once the egg is completely poached, serve.

Mee Hoon with Long Beans and Eggs

Just use whatever there is in the fridge.

~ Papa

Mee Hoon with Long Beans and Eggs

Mee Hoon with Long Beans and Eggs (30 mins)

Mee hoon

Long beans

Garlic

Eggs

Soy sauce

1. Soak the mee hoon in a basin of water.
2. Wash the long beans by rubbing each bean under running water.
3. Dice them or slice them longwise, whichever you prefer, although my friend Yoong says that slicing longwise is aesthetically better.
4. Crush, chop and dice 3 cloves of garlic.
5. Beat the eggs into a bowl together with a teaspoon of soy sauce and some pepper.
6. Heat up the non-stick frying pan, pour in some oil.
7. Fry the garlic until they get a little golden brown.
8. Throw in the long beans and stir-fry them for a bit.
9. Then add in the mee hoon and then the eggs. 
10. Stir it all to ensure they're all well-mixed.
11. Before dishing it out, add soy sauce so that the mee hoon will have some flavour and colour.
12. Serve.

Chicken Porridge

When it's all cold and the wind is howling,
Porridge is just so comforting...

Chicken Porridge

Chicken Porridge for 2 (40 mins)

2 cups rice

Chicken pieces

2 eggs

Soya sauce

1. Wash the defrosted chicken pieces under running water. Rub them with salt thoroughly and rinse.
2. Boil the chicken pieces until cooked.
3. While waiting for chicken pieces to boil, wash the rice and cook it over the stove with lots of water depending on how watery you want the porridge to be. 
4. While waiting for rice to boil, beat the eggs. Add 1 teaspoon of soya sauce to eggs and beat till well-mixed. 
5. Pour the eggs into the rice. At this time, the rice should start to boil. Stir the rice and eggs to mix it up and avoid the rice from being burnt. 
6. Once the chicken is cooked, shred the chicken into the rice while occasionally giving the rice a stir.
7. Continue stirring the porridge until cooked. Alternatively, put the porridge into the magic saver cooker and leave it for about 30 - 45 mins.
8. Serve.