Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Avocado Dips

Do you know that:

High avocado intake has been shown to have an effect on blood serum cholesterol levels. Specifically, after a seven day diet rich in avocados, hypercholesterolemia patients showed a 17% decrease in total serum cholesterol levels. These subjects also showed a 22% decrease in both LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels and 11% increase in HDL (good cholesterol) levels. [wikipedia].


Avocado Dips

Ingredients:

2 avocado
1 onion
2 teaspoon fine sugar
3 tablespoon low fat mayonnaise
3 teaspoon garlic & cheese powder
1/2 teaspoon dry parsley

Method:
Dice avocado into cubes
Dice chop onions
Place avocado & onions into a mixing bowl
Add in mayonnaise, sugar, garlic & cheese powder and dry parsley
Mix them together
Refrigerate before serve
Serve it with chips and celery sticks or anything you like


Tips on how to remove avocado from its skin and seed:
With a knife make a slit in the middle of avocado
Using both hands, twist both side to the opposite direction
Pook the seed with a knife, twist it a bit and the seed will come out

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Potato Salad

This recipe is good for parties or pot luck. Rather easy to make and doesn't need a lot of ingredients.

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

4 big US russet potato (washed )
1 big onions
2 eggs
Dry parsley
3tbsp low fat mayonnaise
Pinch of salt


Method

Boil potato until soft and cut into small cubes
Boil eggs till hard and cut into small cubes
Chop onions into small bits
In a mixing bowl, mix eggs, potato and onions together with mayonnaise
Add pinch of salt and dry parsley and mix thoroughly
Keep in refrigerator and serve cold



Sukiyaki Pork Tenderloin

Sukiyaki Pork tenderloin are paper thin slices of pork. These are my favourites, after cooked, it taste like soft bak kua (grill pressed meat). Make sure they are fresh when you buy them (meat color is red) as some looks pale after a while on the rack. Here is how you prepare them:

Sukiyaki Pork Tenderloin



Ingredients:
2 pkts - about 10-15slices of sukiyaki pork tenderloin
4-5 tbsp teriyaki sauce
2 tsp kikoman soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
Pepper

Method:
Wash and pat dry pork tenderloin
Cut into 2 slices each
Arrange nicely on a plate
Season with pepper, teriyaki sauce, kikoman soy sauce, honey
Make sure both side evenly coated
Cover with cling wrap and set aside in refrigerator for 1hr

Barbecue over charcoal or grill it over non-stick pan for 1min each side
Don't over cook. Sprinkle some sesame seed over if you like.
I like to wrap it with lettuce to eat...nice

Have a bite!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Penang Famous Nyonya "Acar-Awak" (Mix Vege Relish)

This special recipe, has been passed down for 3 generations from my Grandma. She used to make and sell it at Pulau Tikus, Penang wet market. It is one of my favourite dish. Nyonya "Acar-Awak" or Mix Vege Relish is a showcase of a Nyonya delicacy that has become a trademark of Nyonya Kitchen. You can make it for party and also store well in refrigerator. Here's how you make this authentic dish.
ACAR-AWAK

Ingredients:

4tbsp ground peanuts
8tbsp sugar
1tbsp turmeric powder
200gm tamarind juice
10 blended shallots (or 4 big red onions)
4tbsp blended dry chili
3pcs cube prawn paste (balacan)
2 cucumber
8 big cabbage leafs
2 carrots
1/2 Kati long beans
Oil
Sesame seed

(Make sure all your vege are fresh from the market)
Here's how you prepare the ingredients:

Long Beans & Carrots cut into short strips

Cucumber cut into smaller cubes

Cabbage

Turmeric


Add water into tamarind and press the juice out


Dry roast sesame seed in pan until golden

Use a mortar to grind the sesame seed

Baked blended peanuts


Blended Onions, dry chili & prawn paste


Method:
Heat wok with oil
Stir fry blended onions, dry chili and prawn paste until fragrant
(Make sure all the 3 mix thoroughly)
Add little bit more oil
Add in all the vege, stir until the chili paste mix all together
Add in turmeric powder and tamarind juice
Stir until everything is well mixed
Make sure the vegetables are just cooked through, but still crisp
Mix in peanuts and stir
Sprinkle some sesame seed before serving

Optional - If you can finish it at one serving, you can add pineapple.
If you intend to cook a lot and keep it in refrigerator, do not add pineapple.
Pineapple tends to release lots of juice and make the dish too soggy.

Acar-Awak


This recipe is dedicated to my late Grandma, who has make this special dish for the family for the past 30yrs. Thank you Grandma.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

East meet West


What happen if a Thai girl marries a Italian husband? She will put tom yam in his spaghetti dish...ha! Interesting right? Here's how you cook Italian Tom Yam Spaghetti. PS. I didn't marry a Thai girl ...

Italian Tom Yam Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1pack of angel hair spaghetti (boil in water - angel hair cooks quite fast)
2big onions (cut into cubes)
6-7 Kaffir lime leaves (pic below) - (shredded)

1bottle of Pasta sauce (prefer tomato & herbs)
5tbsp tom yam sauce
1tsp parsley
bunch of Mint leaves
1tbsp sugar
Cocktail sausages
Ham cubes
1tsp fish sauce

Method:
Heat oil in woks
Saute onions until fragrant
Add in sausages and ham and stir fry
Pour in pasta sauce and tom yam sauce
Add sugar, fish sauce, parsley and kaffir lime leaves
Mix everything nicely and bring it to boil

Serve it on a plate of angel hair spaghetti and garnish with mint leaves
You'll love this Spicy hot spaghetti, a mixture of western and eastern cuisine.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Honey Glazed Roast Chicken (Char Siew Chicken)


I'm a fan of char siew, but every time I go buy my char siew, I can get only pork char siew. But this time around, I've thought of making char siew with chicken. It takes shorter time to cook then pork and it's less fat too! Here's the recipe:

Honey Glazed Roast Chicken (Char Siew Chicken)

Ingredients:
3pcs Chicken drumstick (remove middle bone)
2tbsp 5 spice powder
3tbsp honey2tsp soy sauce
4tbsp char siew sauce
pinch of salt
1tbsp Oil


Remove skin and middle bone of chicken drumstick
Wash and pat dry
Use a fork to pook a few holes on the drumstick
Rub soy sauce, char siew sauce, salt, oil and 5spice powder over the drumstick
Set it aside for 30mins
10mins before time, pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius
Wrap the end bone of drumstick with foil (to prevent it from burning)
Place drumstick on rack and grill in oven for 30mins
Every 10mins into grilling, brush the drumstick with left over seasoning sauce
15mins into grilling, brush all drumstick top with honey
Serve hot with rice


You'll get the same succulent juicy char siew chicken.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Tesco Brands & Baked Herbs Potatoes

Ever go to Tesco and try some of its own brand of sauce or seasoning? They have a wide range of Tesco brands which are meant for UK market. Last weekend shopping at Tesco, I've come across this - Honey & Mustard cooking sauce. A creamy sauce made of mustard, carrot and honey. Well, with that sauce, I've come up with a simple chicken recipe and serve it on top of spaghetti. Besides that, I also grab some range of potatoes and baked it with herbs and honey to serve as side dish.






Creamy Honey & Mustard Chicken with Spaghetti



Ingredients:


500gm chicken (prefer to use whole chicken drumstick)




- cut into strips, remove skin
- seasoned with Worchester sauce, salt & pepper
- set it aside in refrigerator for 15mins to let the seasoning penetrate the meat

2big onions cut into cubes




1pkt of spaghetti





Spaghetti preparation:


Bring to boil a pot of water
Add in spaghetti (put some salt in water to make the spaghetti taste better)
Stir a few times to prevent spaghetti from sticking to the pot
Drain water out when spaghetti is soft, set it aside.



Cooking the chicken:


Heat oil in wok
Add in onions
Stir fry until fragrant, then add in chicken strips
Add some water
Add in Honey & Mustard sauce and stir
Simmer in low fire until chicken is soft & tender



Serve it on top of spaghetti and garnish with some dry parsley.






Baked Herbs Potatoes



Ingredients:


Grab a few types of potatoes, remove its skin and cut into cubes
(Try to cut it into same size so that cooking time would be the same)



Dry Oregano
Dry Parsley
Season-All Salt
Olive Oil
Honey



Pre-heat oven to 180 degree Celsius
Spread aluminium foil over baking tray
Spread even cut potatoes on baking tray
Sprinkle olive oil, dry oregano, parsley, season-all salt & honey over it
Baked in oven for 20mins ( baking times defer from potatoes sizes and oven)







Voila! You have a nice healthy dish with fresh smell of herbs, sweet and sour taste of honey & mustard. Enjoy...

** I'm not advertising or doing any promotion for TESCO **


Note: You can always add pumpkin or carrots in.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Ezi BBQ Ideas ~ Japanese Style

Ever wonder what to prepare for BBQ without having the normal likes of
sausages, chicken wings, lamb or fish. Well here's a twist to a new BBQ
menu ~ Japanese style BBQ . Here are 2 ezi recipes for you guys.

Teriyaki Honey & Soy Pork Tenderloin Slice



Preorder a few packs of very thin slice of Pork tenderloin (prefer to have some fats on it)


- you can get it from Cold Storage, Tesco, Giant deli corner
Wash pork with water and pat dry.
Marinate with:
Pepper
Teriyaki Honey & Soy Sauce
Refrigerate for 2-3hrs before BBQ
Add Olive oil before BBQ
Cook on low fire (about 2mins each side) - Do not over cook
Eat while hot!


Bacon Wrap Enoki Mushroom




2-3packs of fresh Enoki Mushroom (Do not use can)
500gms Bacon slices (prefer with fats)
Cut and discard Enoki roots
Wash and set aside
Bacon - if too long, cut into half
Take a bunch of enoki and wrap with a slice of bacon (Secure with Toothpick)
Repeat until finish
BBQ over low heat (You can brush some butter over it when bbq)
Careful - Don't let the fire burn the mushroom
Eat while hot!