Merry Christmas To You!

My dear reader,

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas!  May abundant blessings be with you and your family.

How’s the partying so far for you?

I am feeling a little lazy to blog these two days.  Hehe.

It must be all the food that I am binging on that’s making me so sluggish.  Zzzz.

But I thought I would pop by and write this really short post before I go out for a walk to freshen myself up and try to lose those extra flab I have gained this week.  LOL.  Can’t bear to see myself in the mirror anymore these days.

Hope you have fun this holidays!  I’ll be back to share more recipes here very soon.

Enjoy!

Have you eaten Japanese food before?  If so, I’m sure you are not new to wasabi.

Although wasabi is green and looks nothing like a chilli pepper, but don’t underestimate it.  It is fiery enough to clear a blocked nose and I am not exaggerating.  Haha.

This dish, which I learnt from a local chef, will surprise you with a pleasant tinge of spicy wasabi.  There are two parts to this recipe, one for the wasabi mayonnaise and the other for the prawns.

Ingredients (to make a small tub of about 200 g of wasabi mayonnaise):

• 200 g mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons wasabi

To make wasabi mayonnaise:

Step 1:  Scoop about 200 g of mayonnaise into a mixing bowl.  Add in the evaporated milk.  Blend with a whisk.

Step 2:  Add in the lemon juice and wasabi.  Mix well.  If you like it spicier, you can add in more wasabi.  Cover and store in the fridge.

I used tubed wasabi and my wasabi mayonnaise turned out not looking very green, but it tasted quite spicy already.  I will try powdered wasabi next time and see if it looks greener.

And also, I used only a few tablespoons from this tub of wasabi mayonnaise to coat the prawns in the recipe below.  So if you are the type who just like to make enough for this meal, you can modify the recipe above to make a smaller portion.

As for me, I kept the excess wasabi mayonnaise in the fridge for another week where I also used them as a dip for finger food like nuggets and also as dressing for my salad or coleslaw.

Ingredients (Serves 4 adults):

• 15-20 tiger prawns (medium to large size)
• Cornflour (100 to 200 g or enough to coat the prawns)
• Cooking oil (enough for deep-frying)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  De-shell and de-vein all the prawns.  If they are frozen, allow them to thaw before processing.

Step 2:  Wash and pat dry the prawns with a kitchen paper towel.

Step 3:  Pour some cornflour onto a flat plate.  Place prawns, one at a time, on the cornflour and coat them evenly.

Step 4:  Heat up the cooking oil.  Deep-fry all the prawns.

Step 5:  After they are cooked, set them aside on a plate with a kitchen paper towel to absorb excess oil.  These were how they looked just before I coated them.

Step 6:  Add a few tablespoons of wasabi mayonnaise to a bowl.  Coat each prawn on both sides evenly.  Serve.

Hubby had this for his dinner, together with sambal ladies’ finger and rice.

If you dare to eat wasabi, you should try this!

I will be posting another Japanese recipe “Tempura Don” next!  Do stay around…

Whenever it is cold and rainy, I will always think of having a bowl of wonton soup.

It is one of my favourite comfort foods.  What is yours?

Well, the ingredients for this recipe should be quite easy to find.  You can get wonton skin wrappers at most Asian supermarkets.  I usually get the square ones.  Buy freshly made ones if possible.  If you can only find frozen types, remember to thaw the number that you need, to room temperature before making the wontons.

When thawing, it’s best to place them on a bowl or plate and cover them with a damp towel.  This prevents the wonton skin wrappers from drying up when exposed to air.  You will then find it very difficult to wrap the wontons as the wrappers crack easily.

Ingredients (Serves 4 to 5 adults):

• 200 g minced pork
• 1 tablespoon carrot, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons scallion (spring onion), finely chopped
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon cornflour + 4 tablespoons water to make the cornflour sealant
• 200 g wonton skin wrappers (this varies with the amount of meat you put in your wonton)
• 10 g chicken stock cube
• 4 cups of water (for chicken broth)
• Water for cooking wontons

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  To make the wonton filling, combine the minced pork with salt, sugar, light soy sauce, ground pepper and sesame oil in a mixing bowl.  Add in 1 tablespoon chopped scallions and carrots and mix well.  Allow half an hour to marinate.

Step 2:  Put a small amount of this minced pork filling in the middle of a wonton skin wrapper.  With your fingertips, dab a bit of the cornflour sealant along the edges and bring all the edges together upwards.  It should stick and end up looking like a little draw-string pouch.

If you are lazy, you can just fold the opposite ends into a triangle, as long as the filling is wrapped inside.

Step 3:  Repeat Step 2 until all the minced pork filling is used up.  Remember to place the wontons in a single layer on a plate covered in plastic wrap  (to avoid drying).  If you think you cannot finish all the wontons for this meal, store the remaining in a container and put them in the fridge for another day.

Step 4:  Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Put the wontons individually into the water.  When the wontons float to the surface of the water, they are cooked.  Take the wontons out and set them aside.  The reason why we don’t cook the wontons in the chicken broth is because wonton wrappers are covered with flour and if they are cooked directly in the broth, it will affect the flavour of the soup.

Step 5:  To cook the broth, add the cups of water to another pot and bring the water to a boil.  Put in the chicken stock cube and make sure it dissolves well after some stirring.  Add in the remaining scallions.

Step 6: Return the cooked wontons gently into the boiling broth, but don’t cook them too long.  Add a dash of pepper before serving.

Isn’t it lovely?

You can also add in some bok choy while cooking the broth.  I didn’t add them in this batch of wonton soup as we had the vegetables separately with oyster sauce.

This wonton soup is best stored in a thermos food jar where the soup can be kept warm till your lunch time.

For a twist, you can do away with the soup and deep-fry the wontons after Step 3.  It’s a tasty snack for your kid’s lunch box as well!

There are many ways of cooking fish and one of the easiest way is to bake it.

This baked fish fillet recipe is suitable for any type of white fish, although I would prefer boneless ones like these sutchi fillet that I have used.  Dory fish fillet is a great choice as well.

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Marinate fish fillet with salt and ground white pepper.  Set it aside for half an hour before cooking.

Step 2:  Place fish fillet in an oven-proof dish lined with aluminium foil.

Step 3:  Drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over fish fillet.

Step 4:  Spread minced garlic on the surface.  Sprinkle mixed herbs and black pepper evenly over fish fillet.

Step 5:  Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius or 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 6:  Bake the fish for about 15 minutes or until the minced garlic turns brown.  Check if the fish is cooked with a fork.  If it flakes easily, it is ready.

Note:  Do pay attention while the fish is being baked as the baking time may differ slightly for your oven.  The thickness of the fish will also determine how long it takes to be cooked.

This recipe is simple, healthy, tasty and easy to make.  Boneless fish fillets are a good choice if you are preparing for your kid’s lunch box too.

This is a dish I grew up with since young.

I love it so much still that every time we cook this, I can finish two portions.  LOL.

I also found out that almost every kid who tried this dish liked it very much as well.  It is not only colorful, but it’s healthy, tasty and filling.  If you have kids who are fussy eaters, try cooking this once and see if they like it.  Perhaps, they will ask you to cook it again the next day!

Ingredients (Serves 4 to 5 adults):

• 1 medium carrot, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 2 regular sized potatoes, diced into 1 cm cubes
• About 170 g luncheon meat, diced into 1 cm cubes
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (optional)
• Ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 5 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons water

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1:  Heat up 4 tablespoons cooking oil in a fry pan.  Deep fry the potato cubes, carrot cubes and luncheon meat cubes respectively.  Remove and set aside after they are cooked.

Step 2:  Heat up 1 tablespoon cooking oil.  Add the minced garlic.  When it is turning golden brown, add in the red onion slices.  Stir-fry for 1 minute till onion slices are soft and starting to brown too.

Step 3:  Put in the deep fried potato, carrot and luncheon meat cubes prepared earlier.  Add 3 tablespoons water.

Step 4:  Add the sugar, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce (optional).  Stir-fry for another minute, ensuring the ingredients are blended nicely.

Step 5:  Add a dash of ground pepper.  Stir-fry a few more times to mix well.

This is how it looks after it is completed.

It’s a well-balanced lunchbox dish as it is made up of a meat, vegetable and potato combo.  I recommend you to eat it with plain white rice.  Yummy.

It is good enough for me as a one-dish meal, but with another vegetable dish, my lunch box will be perfect.

Sometimes, home-cooked comfort food taste best, don’t you agree?

PS:  I am infatuated with luncheon meat, so there will be more luncheon meat recipes to come.  Hehe.