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.

ABC Soup

All nutrients in one good soup, perfect for the working person!

ABC Soup

ABC Soup for 2 (30 mins)

This is my "weekday soup", best prepared the night before and left to self-cook in my magic cooker so that by the time I come back from work the next day, it's ready to eat! For the record, the magic cooker is a pot, which has insulation to keep the heat in, just like a flask. You can use it to cook virtually anything from soups to stews to rice! The beauty of this pot is it saves ELECTRICITY and GAS, simply because it doesn't need either resources to cook your food! It virtually self-cooks - magic! Whatever you're cooking, just give it a boil over the stove for 10 mins or so and put it into the magic cooker. After a few hours, your food will turn out exactly as if you have left it on the gas continually. Mine is from Cosway, Malaysia, but nowadays I'm sure you can get this cooker from pretty much any shopping mall. 


Chicken drumsticks, however many you would like to have

2 potatoes
1 carrot
2 tomatoes
2 sticks celery
1 big onion

1. Defrost the chicken drumsticks. Once defrosted, wash them thoroughly by rubbing and rinsing it under running water. Rub the drumsticks with salt and then rinse them again.
2. Boil the UNPEELED tomatoes in a small pot of water - this makes skin removal as easy as ABC. 
3. Wash and peel the potatoes and carrots, then slice them into small cubes. 
4. The tomatoes should have been well boiled by now. Pour away the water and let the tomatoes cool. 
5. Wash the celery, then remove the fibrous bits. (Sometimes when I'm in a rush, I cheat by not doing this and honestly I don't feel much difference although my mum is inclined to disagree.) To do this, just sort of pinch a little wee bit of the end of the celery stick, then peel it, like peeling a banana. The fibrous bit will peel out and looks like a cellophane tape. Do this until you have removed as much of the fibrous bits as your patience allows you to. 
6. Slice the celery into smaller pieces.
7. For the next step, it's best to wear a pair of swimming goggles, ski goggles or whatever protective gear you have which covers your eyes thoroughly. Spectacles don't work. 
8. Remove the onion skin then slice it in chunky pieces. It doesn't have to be too small because it will crumble anyway when you boil the soup. 
9. Remove the goggles. If you didn't wear goggles, you should be unable to open your eyes now. 
10. Hopefully the tomatoes are cool enough for you to handle them. Else, just put it under cold running water to cool it. Then peel the skin with your hands. Just give the skin a little tug and it will all fall out obediently.  
11. Slice the tomatoes in half, then half it again. 
12. Put everything into the magic pot: tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, celery, chicken drumsticks and pour in 2.5 bowls of water. This scientific calculation is derived as such: 1 bowl per person, with approximately half a bowl of water extra to allow for evaporation. 
13. Bring the soup to a boil, then let it boil for another 10 minutes before placing it into the magic cooker. 
14. The next morning, before heading off to work, boil it over the stove for another 10 minutes and then place it in the magic cooker.
15. After work, just before eating, add a pinch of salt, and boil it over the stove for a few minutes. 
16. Serve.

Radish and Pork Ribs Soup

Everyone needs a cooking support system. 

Thank you for parents, sisters, aunts, in-laws and friends, 

who impart good cooking basics!

Radish and Pork Ribs Soup

Radish and Pork Ribs Soup (20 mins preparation, Total = Min. 2 hours)

Radish

Pork Ribs

Salt

The night before:

1. Defrost pork ribs, which have been cut into small pieces by pork seller. 
2. In the meantime, peel and cut the radish into your preferred size.
3. Once the pork ribs are fully defrosted, wash each individual pork rib thoroughly with water. Rub each piece with salt and rinse.
4. Boil the pork ribs in a small pot of water. Once it comes to a boil, let it continue boiling for another two minutes.
5. Throw away the hot water and rinse the pork ribs.
6. Get your handy magic saver cooker out and put the pork ribs and radish into the pot.
7. Pour in 2.5 bowls of water. The formula on how much water is the number of bowls of soup you'd like to drink + 0.5 bowls. Hence, if I want 2 bowls of soup, I need to use 2 + 0.5 = 2.5 bowls of water. 
8. Bring the whole thing to a boil and then let it continue boiling for another 5 minutes.
9. Put the pot into the magic saver cooker and let it self-cook.

Just before meal time:

1. Take the pot out of the magic saver cooker and boil it over the stove.
2. Add in a dash of salt and let it boil for about 10 minutes.
3. 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.