Singapore Macdonald garlic chilli sauce is actually SinSin garlic chilli sauce

I remembered fondly when I was young, my father will cook maggie noodle (chicken flavor) for us as supper for the day. He will cook according to the instruction given in the instant noodle packet, but he will drain the soup away and left the noodle in a plate. Then he will put some SinSin garlic chilli sauce and some tomato sauce and mix well with the noodles. As we grow older we will put vegetables and eggs to create a more complete meal.

For those who are aware, SinSin garlic chilli sauce is actually Singapore's Macdonald garlic chilli sauce. So when the garlic chilli sauce is back in Macdonald again, we are all very glad!

Japanese curry with chicken

If you like Japanese curry which is sweeter than normal curry, then this recipe is for you.

I bought this S&B japanese curry from cold storage. Each pack can make up to 8 servings. Per pack contains 2 block of curry (see picture 2). So if you have a smaller family, you will need just one block.

Ingredients : cabbage, carrots, potatoes and chicken.

I usually marinade the chicken with some salts and tumeric powder for at least half an hour and stir-fry them quickly to allow the flavor of the salt and tumeric powder to soak into the meat.

Scope out the chicken when it is 60% partially cooked.

Using a pot with half a litre of water (if you are using one block of curry), boil carrots, potatoes for about 15 minutes under medium fire until the potatoes are soft. 

Add in cabbage, Japanese curry cube and stir for another 5 minutes and add in the chicken,

Let it boil for another ten minutes and serve

Grilled squids

This is a very simple dish to make

Wash and clean the squids and cut them into pieces.

Marinade them with salt, minced garlic and tumeric powder for minimum half an hour.

Cut up two aluminium foil and apply oil on the part which you will put in a toaster oven.

Place the squids in the aluminium foil.

Toast them with 200 degree celcius heat for at least twenty minutes.

Korean rice cake - replaced with made-in-china rice cake

This is my first attempt of preparing Korean rice cake. It is successful but the gravy is too much!

I used freeze dried made-in-china rice cake as it is cheaper (S$4.50 at Yue Hwa, Chinatown) compared to S$10.00++ per pack from Korean supermarket.

I prefer a vegetarian style. Initially I wanted to use cabbage but the one in my fridge is long forgotten and have turned yellow, so i use an alternative - onions.

-------------

Ingredients

4 clove of garlic - minced

some oil

3 onions - remove the skin and slice thinly

freeze dried rice cake - soak in water for ten minutes (i got the clue from other website too)

Korean red hot pepper

some brown sugar

-----------------

Instructions :

1) Mix the korean red hot pepper and some brown sugar with a little water to make it a smooth paste

2) stir fry minced garlic with some oil and after 20 seconds add in the onions. Continue to stir until the onions turned soft.

3) add a little water to the pan and add in rice cakes. Let it simmer for 2 minutes so that the rice-cake turn soft and chewy.

4) Add the red hot pepper paste and stir for another half a minute.
-----------------

Conclusion : the red hot pepper is really hot! If u want to go easy on the hotness, try adding more water but you may not have a flavorful taste.

It is quite easy to make - why are they selling at horrendous price with horrendous taste at those korean snack shop in shopping centers?

Herbal soup with prawns

I first tasted this soup in one of the Chinese restuarant in Suntec.

I used Si Shen tang soup pack and add prawns and some chinese wine in it.

The prawns should not be cooked for too long.

Teh Halia

I literally get addicted to teh halia the first time i drink it, so when i could find it in the supermarket I was very happy.

Unfortunately the powdered version isnt as sweet and spicy (strong) as the coffeeshop version so I have mixed it with ginger powder drink (which was neglected in my family for quite some time). The end result? Wonderful!

It might be too sweet for some of you.

I tasted ginger milk (ginger with milk) in one of the spa resort in Indonesia (Javana Spa) and I was also hook to the drink.

Coleslaw with Kraft's coleslaw cream

I gave up making coleslaw cream from scratch as it didnt give me the taste i want. Hence i have used Kraft's coleslaw cream instead. (it is relatively new in the market as a few years ago, i didnt see it in supermarket shelf)

Ingredients : shredded cabbage, red onions (sliced), shredded carrots, some black pepper and coleslaw cream.

For variation, you can add thousand island sauce with some SinSin garlic chilli sauce or use Heinz English Salad cream.

For those who are looking for more asthetic coleslaw, use some red cabbage and/or some red chillies and/or corianders.

Black pepper prawns

I am actually more familar with sambal orlek prawns, which you can find in Soup Restuarant. They use Kee's sambal orlek sauce.

This black pepper prawns use a made-in sarawak black pepper sauce. I just need to stir-fry prawns with some butter and oil until the shells turn crispy red and pour black pepper sauce over. The butter gives a rich taste to the black pepper

If you do not have black pepper sauce, sautee the prawn with a some butter and some oil, when the prawns are cooked and the shells turn crispy, add enough black pepper and a little corn starch and it is done.

Sweet potato soup with chendol cubes

Just when I am about to write this, my father commented that the soup is too dark! *LOL*

The brown sugar is from Malacca which tells why the sugar is exceptionally black.

I first fall in love with the chendol cubes when my mum first made this dessert. It is S$1.20 from the market and comes with multi-color. It reminds me of gemstone and thus making this dessert very attractive. The cubes are actually tapioca flour that has been colored and mould into cubes.

I used Japanese sweet potatoes and surprisingly tastes soft and good.

I love brown sugar, love it in ondeh-ondeh, love it in putu-piring, love it in brown sugar mochi and also love it in tang yuan 汤圆. I also love chendol from Malacca.

Fried Bee Hoon

Ingredients : Bee hoon (soak and use hot water to soak for a while and drained)

Vegetables : Bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots & chye sum

Others : minced garlic, chicken broth, pepper, soya sauce, dark soya sauce and fried shallots

Direction : fry minced garlic in oil until it turn crispy and a little brown, add vegetables into it and fry under low fire and cover with wok.

When the vegetables are 3/4 cooked put in bee hoon, chicken broth, soya sauce, dark soya sauce, pepper and stir-fry until it is evenly cooked. Lastly add fried shallot to bee hoon

My portion of vegetables to bee hoon is often 2:1, so that the vegetables will be more than carbohydrate.

Dark soya sauce is used to add color to the pale beehoon.

In addition, to add meat in, I will use chicken satay sausage.

Beef stew

Ingredients :

Beef (cubed, marinade with little salt and tumeric powder)

carrots, potatoes and onions (cube)

garlic (minced)

Use a pot, add garlic and stir fry for a while using medium fire and add beef and stir fry until the beef is half cooked. Scope out the beef and put on a separate bowl.

Add carrots, potatoes and onions and stir fry for a minute, add enough water to cover the vegetables and let it boil under medium fire.

Add beef cube, black pepper, a teaspoon of oyster sauce, a little black soya sauce, a little tumeric powder, one or two teaspoon of corn flour. Red wine is optional.

Let the vegetables boil under low fire until it is cooked and turned soft and add in the beef into it. Let it simmer until the beef is cooked. Do not overcook the beef. Add salt to taste.

(if the gravy is not thick enough add in more cornflour and stir slowly into stew)

You can substitute chicken for the beef, preparation will be the same.

Roast chicken wings

Marinade the chicken wings with oyster sauce or mushroom vegetarian sauce, sugar, minced garlic, soya sauce, pepper and tumeric powder. To marinade for at least 2 hours so that the flavor can really seeps into the chicken wings.

I specially like tumeric powder as it add the oomphs to meat dish. I even use for beef stew. Tumeric powder leaves stain to your cultery so you have to be careful.I use oven toaster to roast chicken wings and allow the oil from the meat to drip into a pan.

The minced garlic should be chopped finely, the one that I did is a little too coarse.

Barley with gingko nuts (Hong Kong style)

Ingredients : soya bean milk, sugar, barley, pandan leaves (screw pines), bean curd sheets (for desserts) & gingko nuts.

Bean curd sheets and gingko nuts should be added last.

Ideally the center of the gingko nuts should be removed to remove the bitter taste. A person can only eat up to 15 gingko nuts, else he will experience nauseous after eating too much (is a sign of poisoning)

I understand the best gingko nuts is from Japan.

Nian Gao 年糕 - Chinese New Year Cake

The Chinese tradition bears uncanny resemblance to the Jewish Tradition. For example the eating of Chinese New Year Cake verses the eating of the unleaven bread during the Passover. The meaning of Passover is the crossing over from the old. In Jewish tradition, it is a New Year to them.

For more information click : http://israelinfaith.blogspot.com/2007/03/chinese-new-year-and-passover-message.html

Nian Gao is one of my favourite snack and I usually buy a big one (to the disdain of my mum) so that I can keep it for the rest of the year. The shelf live for one nian gao in the fridge is one year, so you do not have to worry about the cake turning bad.

I will usually buy more after CNY as they cost a fraction of the original price

Batter : Self-raising flour, egg (for color), a little salt and sugar.

Direction : coat the cake evenly with batter and fry under medium fire. Flip the cake to the other side to fry when the fried side turn crispy.


Do you like the plate I bought? It has an indie-english look. I fell in love with it when I shop at Mustafa shopping centre. (Yes I shop at Mustafa!)

Chicken with white fungus soup

This is one of my favorite and it is also very healthy, loaded with fibre. It can be served as a meal accompanied with rice.

Ingredients : Chicken (skins removed), white fungus, carrots ,button mushrooms, chicken cube stock and salt.

Stewed asian pear with white fungus and apricot kernels 南杏北杏

This is traditionally a Cantonese dessert. Pear, white fungus and apricot kernels is said to invigorate lungs and thus is good for those who suffers from cough.

White fungus is said to contain the same nutritional properties as bird nest and therefore it is also known as "poor man's bird nest". White fungus is good for the skin as it contains collagen. The best way to get white fungus is to get from Traditional Chinese Medicine shops as they will tell you the different grades of white fungus. The better ones are softer.

White fungus need to be soak for at least two hours to make it soft.

Ingredients : Asian pear, white fungus, apricot kernels and rock sugars.

Simple Beef noodle soup

Soup : beef stock, yeast extract (vegamite), salt, star anise, cinnamon stick, soya sauce, dark soya sauce

Vegetables : salted vegetable (soak for ten minutes, rinse and cut into strips), bean sprouts and coriander.

Meat :sliced beef, beef tendons and fish cake (sliced)

This is a simple beef noodle soup. For the authentic beef noodle soup will calls for much more chinese herbs and even the use of beef bones and beef stomach.

For sliced beef, marinade with egg white or corn flour and let it stay for at least 10 mins to make it slippery smooth.

Kimchi from ready-made kimchi paste

I first saw this (made-in-Singapore)Gana kimchi paste from Sheng Siong Supermaket and as I read the process of making kimchi on the jar, it was relatively easy.

First you have to pick a chinese cabbage, wash thoroughly and apply salt on every layer of the leaves and leave it to dehydrate for 7 hours.

After 7 hours, wash the cabbage again and apply Gana kimchi paste on every leaves.

Lastly I will add apple-cider vinegar and a little normal vinegar to the the mixture. Add them according to your taste. I like apple-cider vinegar as they have a woody-fruity smell/taste and add a certain fragrance to the kimchi. However too much of it can be overpowering and thus I have include normal vinegar to balance the taste.

You can add kimchi to your instant noodles or use to make kimchi soup. For kimchi soup, make sure you add chicken or beef cube to enchance the taste.

Macroni & premium satay sausage in tomato sauce

I bought the tomoto pasta sauce from Marks & Spencer and it tends to be more sour than other brands from the supermarket. Hence I have added sugar to reduce the sourness. In addition, as I love chillies I have added Sin Sin Garlic chilli sauce and stirred slowly into the sauce. I bought the premium satay sausages from Sheng Siong supermarket which taste heaven!

Baby Kailan in oyster sauce

Kailan tends to be bitter in taste and so I prefer baby kailan instead. In addition, carrots are added to sweeten the dishes so that the taste will varied. This dish needs to be stir-fry under big fire. The best stir-fry kailan comes with every leaves coated with oyster sauce. You can replace oyster sauce with mushroom sauce which is vegetarian. Once you pour the sauce in the wok, cover the wok so to allow the flavor of oyster sauce to seep into every leaf for 2 mins.

Ingredients : minced garlic, baby kailan, carrots, fried shallots

Sauce : Oyster sauce, water, sugar and corn starch