It's Wednesday Already...

I have another half of the duck in the freezer. I had planned to cook the other half duck today with the braised sea cucumber that I bought from the market. There's enorki mushroom as well in this dish. It's suppose to be soupy but I miss having a braised dish. There's none in the list of my menu for this week. So, I decided to braise the duck again. I really love braised dishes but to make them take a lot of time. Well, I guess when you want really good food you will have to make some sacrifices.

I bought this Teochew bean curds last Sunday morning. Surprisingly, they haven't gone stale. Still tested good. It's my first time steaming those bean curds and then slicing them before putting them to dance in the hot oil. I thought I just needed to deep fry them straight but this method seem to have escape me earlier. How I've realized that for more than 10 years, I have been cooking the lazy way. I cut across all difficult and methods to come to this one. I'm glad I followed through this time round. The food tasted better. It's something like the Japanese tofu dish. The soy sauce have been re-boiled with some other stuff.

I had leftover soup from yesterday which I did not know what to do with. So, I made some scrambled eggs and mix them with the soup. There... a bowl of egg soup. Nice... I am very tired. It feels like I'm a walking zombie and I have another pile of work to do. It seems to be never ending. 

2.5 Hours Later... Braised~!

I drove back at high speed after my morning class to spend another 2.5 hours standing in the kitchen. The night before I have studied what I was going to cook. I kinda like dishes being braised. That's winter melon braised to perfection and I thought the water would never clear. It finally did and I was left a little gravy. The addition of roasted chestnuts and red dates made the dish sweeter. I don't like the taste of scallop mushrooms from a can. The taste was something which I couldn't describe but I know I do not like the taste. This whole dish took at least an hour to get it done.

Wrapping dumpling was no big deal. Making the stock was one big deal. I needed two hours to get the taste out from the pig's bone added with flounder fish powder and dried shrimp toasted. Two hours for the stock pot to take over one side of the stove. The other side was taken over by the wintermelon. I didn't know what to do while waiting. When you're cooking, you couldn't just leave the stove because that's where something's gonna go wrong. Trust me on this. When you're waiting for a pot of water to boil, it simply refused to boil. Once you walk away and thinking that it would need another few minutes, those few minutes turned into seconds. So, I better not walk away. I did walk to the piano and played a song. I came out after I was done with that one song.

The whole wok of winter melon done was quickly removed and I changed to my favourite marble wok. This was my first time cooking duck meat. I bought the whole duck from the market. You need to order one day ahead. I asked the lady at the market to chop the duck into two and separate for two different days of cooking. The whole duck has NO meat. Poor ducky... Oh... I simply love this braised duck disk. The taste was just like the braised pork in a can. Exactly the same~!!! I love this taste. I wished to finish the half duck on my own but I could not do so. Others would go hungry. *sigh* So, yeah... 2.5 hours standing in the kitchen and we finished them 30 minutes later plus washing. Kitchen slave I am...

Ooh La La~!

I'm getting better in frying lala. You just need to have fast hands. Prepare all the ingredients and then use that black wok like you're frying char koay teow. In less than 2 minutes, the lala would open their mouths big. Stop frying as you will not want dehydrated lala. I have mine the exact texture I wanted. Fat with liquid still inside the body. Yeah, I fry them alive. I know it sounded a bit heartless but nothing can be done. I wanted them fresh. You wouldn't want to eat dead lala. You might get food poisoning. That's kam heong lala with fresh chillies, belachan and dried shrimps. And more to make it 'heong'... that's fragrant in the Cantonese dialect.

Dried cuttlefish with pork stew. I kinda like this style of cooking where you cook until the water in the pot was left with 1% only. The taste was really good. And the meat.... tender~! I feel like I'm a better cook this year. No more simply cooking as I no longer need to rush to school to fetch my girls. I officially retired from doing so this year. I'm a relaxed cook now. I have more time for self to prepare paperwork. My work is endless~! When I think I have more time for self, I ended up having more work to do. 

This dish is way too Chinese. That rounded thing was not pig's tail or an ox's tail. It's just drumstick mushroom cut into pieces. Then I cut the okra as well. The yam bean and purple cabbage were meant to be eaten raw but please, don't ask me to eat any raw vegetables. I would faint. I mix everything and cook them with taucu. I have no liking for taucu but I have three bottles of different taucu. The only raw stuff that I would go for is sashimi. I welcome sashimi anytime~! Raw seafood ... good.... Raw beef also acceptable. Raw vegetables... no no~!

The noodles was a different type. I think it's from Taiwan. Lobster noodles.... but I didn't taste any lobster at all....

Salted Fish Reminds Me of my Doggie...

Today I wanted to cook something I've never cook before. Herbal steam chicken. I know bah kut teh is also a type of herbal soup but let's not take that into account. I couldn't understand a word of English translated from Chinese those names of herbs, so I have put off the plan to cook any herbal dishes. But today, I set my alarm clock, jumped out of bed and dragged the hubby with me to the market. Not that hubby could read Chinese but I just wanted him to go with me to the market. I brought the recipe book and opened the said page and pointed the recipe to the herb picker at the Chinese herbal shop. I told them I didn't want any extra, not even 1 gram extra. I want exactly the same amount as written, not like I would know what to do with the extra amount. The herb picker was really helpful. I got what I wanted and I made a crowd waiting behind me. The aunties aunties in the market must have thought I was one crazy person with a book in the market. I didn't bother with that staring crowd. Important was I got what I wanted. Mama said sister did the same thing in the foreign country she's residing now. She brought the whole book, too. Ahhh... great minds think alike.

This was something not meant to be. It was suppose to be prawn patties but there's not even a prawn shell or prawn tail to be found in Tesco. The Tesco guy said finish already. Now got prawn rationing? Every year when the Chinese New Year is nearing, the prawn supply will dwindle and then suddenly, out of nowhere, the prawns will appear with the price more than double the normal rate. Such horrible traders. Talk about being Chinese... we're no different than those terrible traders in China who only want to earn more, earn more and kill almost everyone in the process of making more money. I changed the minced prawns into minced meat. Thank God for extra minced meat in the freezer drawer. And it's added with salted fish and roasted chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts seemed to be a better mix compared to fresh water chestnuts. I never like chestnuts, dunno why.... And a little bit of fried salted fish made a better enhancer. I think I just fall in love with salted fish. I thought my whole salted fish could last me for the whole year but I have used half of it. I'm left with just another half of the salted fish only. Huhuhuhuh....

Now, the whole house smell like salted fish. And it actually smell like my favourite doggie which died a long time ago. I used to have this white with black spots spitz plus pomeranian smart doggie. And whenever he went out for a walk and if it was raining, he would come back with this salted fish smell all over his body. Makes me miss having a spitz plus pom doggie. My last doggie, a mix of dachshund and chihuahua was the smartest dog I've met. He's smarter than some humans. A very considerate dog and full of understanding, confirm better than humans. Eh, this is my kitchen diary blog, not dog diary.

Oh, then we had the shark fin's platter. Eh, imitation only la.... if I eat real one I think a few of my friends will not like that. But I know where to get the supply of shark's fins which will cost you a four figure amount at best. I added some seafood tofu because I love those. The carrot made the soup sweet, only when you peel off the carrot skin. I didn't know about that until recently, okay. I was very lazy to peel carrot skin so I don't like carrots lor... coz it's bitter and tasted like soil. Now, I love carrots coz they are actually sweet. I peel carrot skin before I feed my rabbits also... hehehhe....

The Way to a Man's Heart...

..... is through his stomach...

Isn't that the correct saying? I'm like a worm crawling all over the hubby's stomach and I can poke through his stomach wall and tickle his heart. Today, I set the table with these few plates for the hubby.

 What transpired in the kitchen....

The long eggplant was cut into slices. I kinda enjoy cutting eggplant. It's unlike slicing carrots or potatoes. And the skin need not be peeled. Makes life easier. Pan fry the eggplant slices and wait for them to cool. While waiting, do something else.

I put the muscles cubes to cook. And while doing so, I tried some deep fried dish. It's enorki mushroom. I'm very proud of my deep-frying skill. It's very crunchy but oily. I like the shape actually.

That's a web of enorki mushroom~! It just stick together while swimming in the hot oil. I didn't know I have such frying skill. Hubby love this to bits. I know he enjoys deep-fried food. Who doesn't? Oh, mi mama doesn't like deep-fried oily food.

The caramelized pork cubes were done in another wok. You just pour a whole lot of water in and throw in a huge chunk of rock sugar then let it simmer. It will turn into such way without you controlling it.

The eggplants were lined on the aluminium foil but before that you just need to smear a layer of miso paste on it. Then leave the whole thing in the oven for 15 minutes. Don't put too much of miso paste. Mine is on the saltier side. Don't really enjoy it. And after I'm done with everything, only then I realized that they were all dry dishes. I need soupy dish. I'm a Chinese.

I started rummaging through the refrigerator drawer and I took out two potatoes and a carrot. Then, dug out an onion and threw them into a small pot. Viola~! Got soup~! Egg drop soup~! I used up the egg white after using the egg yolks for the enorki web dish.

The enorki web was mixed with egg yolks, oat and curry leaves. I think I forget to put in the seasoning but it was tasty all the same as I altered the batter before deep-frying those enorki mushroom. 

Who cares what we eat? By the way, the way to a man's heart is NOT through his stomach. 

Simple Mid-Week Lunch...

So soon... It's already the middle of the week. And it's the second week of the month. Before long the month of January will just go off. It seemed like only a few days back we celebrated the ushering of the new year. I didn't have much in my plan except for preparing answer sheets. It's like I'm the one going to sit for exam now. So, I cooked something simple today. It's pan grilled rosemary chicken. Since I do not like such dry dish, I added some water and let the chicken thighs simmer in the pan.

And I made a simple plate of mixed vegetables or else the hubby might feel that I'm not giving him enough greens. The two packs of vegetables shrunk while being blanched. It's not simple actually. It's very troublesome to make a nice plate of dish. The mushrooms and carrots need to be blanched until soft. Then, I waited for awhile before I started frying the ham pieces that I've cut. When the ham pieces were almost done, I hoisted up the carrots and mushrooms and transferred them into the sizzling hot wok. Then, you don't use plain water to fry them. You ladled up some water from the pot which you used to blanch those carrots and mushrooms. You needed the sweetness of carrots to enhance the taste. You don't add sugar to this anymore. Then, I blanched the siew pak choy from Cameron Highlands and then transferred them into the work as well. There.... there.... one dish done. I continued with my paperwork there after.

Mi mama made a surprise lunch visit with a plate of yummy yummy bishop's nose. I love this.... ooo la la.... I'm done with lunch and will need to continue work from 3pm to 10pm. One hour in between to brave through the evening messy traffic. Ugh~!

The Salted Fish Experience..

Yesterday night, the whole bird was marinated. The first time I cooked this, someone told me that the chicken just need to be marinated with salt. I think it's rather tasteless so I this time round I did it my style. I have everything all over the chicken and gave it a good massage and also a back rub. Then, I left the chicken to sleep in the refrigerator.

Then, while the chicken was seated firmly in the pot, I tried out this new kind of dish. It's yam with evaporated milk plus vegetables and shimeiji mushroom. Anyway, it's not such a good combination with the chicken. I prefer savoury dishes instead of sweet. Evaporated milk is not in my list of stuff that I like.

Then, I was thinking of making salted fish fried rice. I have a whole big salted fish which flew all the way from Kuching, Sarawak. Thank you Mabel for your kiam hu~! Usually, I will just get a small packet from the market that cost only RM4. Then, there's quite a wide range of good quality salted fish. When I opened up the newspaper which the salted fish from Kuching was wrapped in, I got a real good surprise. I've never have a whole salted fish all to myself before. The fish scales were still intact. I was thinking of using a pair of scissors to cut part of it as I only needed 30 grammes. It was quite hard to cut so I transferred it to the chopping board and used my big knife. The scales wouldn't budge. I didn't know what to do. I washed my hands and called the hubby. Hubby never heard of salted fish with scales intact. He asked me to walk to the market to get some which would make life easier. But it was noon and I bet the stores were closed and I refused to walk under the scorching hot sun. So, I told him never mind I will figure out.

I was very tempted to snap a picture of that salted fish and Watsapp Mabel, the person who brought me salted fish and ask her,"Hi... what you do with this big fish?" Then, I became wise and I flipped the fish over. There... there.... There's a big slit and it's easy to remove the flesh without hacking the whole fish. I got my 30 grammed using a pair of scissors and used my fingers to pluck out the big fish scales. Kinda fun doing that.

There, my plate of salted fish fried rice. The aroma would send you floating. It's not like some salted fish which smell so badly you would feel like puking. This one has no such smell. Me love this~! And it's not extremely salty till you feel dehydrated after eating it.

The chicken was ready. The three of us attacked the chicken mercilessly. It's really good so we planned to have it again next week... with herbal ingredients next.... Hehheheheheehe.... 

Mi mama made my favourite konnyaku jelly... this is the transparent konnyaku with lychee flavour. I like orange and lychee flavours... can finish the whole container even with a full stomach~!