Stir-fried Sweet and Spicy Tapioca Noodles

I made this for bento one winter. Bad choice, the cold weather solidified the oil and sauce which made the noodles texture rubbery.. It is better to eat this when it is pipping hot or reheating with microwave before consumption is highly recommended.


Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 serving Vietnamese tapioca noodles
2 bundles Choy Sum (cut into 3cm)
2 chinese dried mushrooms (soaked till al dente and shredded)
2 stalks spring onions (cut into 3cm)
10 slices of fish cake
1 garlic (chopped finely)
1 chicken breast fillet (cut into 1.5cm strips)
2 tablespoons canola oil

Garnish:
Chopped spring onions
1 egg (fried into omelette and shredded finely)

Seasonings:
1 tablespoon sambal chilli sauce
2 tablespoon Kecap Manis
1 tablespoon dark soy
1 tablespoon light soy
Dash of salt and pepper

Preparation:
Combine amd mix seasonings in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of water. Set aside.


Cooking:

• Heat oil in a thick-based metal pan.
• Add fish cake and fry till fragrant.
• Add garlic, spring onions and chicken.
• Fry for about 3 minutes, add Choy Sum and mushrooms.
• Fry for about 2 minutes, add noodles and combined seasonings.
• Mix thoroughly until contents are evenly coated.
• Lower heat to medium and fry for about 5 minutes.
• Garnish and serve.

Soy-braised Pork Belly with Eggs

Knowing about my adversity towards Mr Porky, kiddo seldom requests to include pork in our meals. However he would have craving occasionally and requests to have it when we are doing our weekly grocery shopping. So I cook Mr porky on these rare occasions just to put a smile on his face and to see him gobble down the food happily.

There were 7 fat slabs in this pack and I had already used up 3 to make crispy pork lard pieces to go with kiddo's fried vermicelli and ramen soup. I decided to make his all-time favourite - Tau Yew Bak, Soy-braised Meat （酱油焖肉）, with the remaining pieces.


Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 slabs pork belly (cut into 2cm width)
6 pieces chinese dried mushrooms (soaked till al dente)
5 whole garlic (skin removed and cracked lightly) - use 4 if they are big
2 star anise (cracked lightly)
2 hard-boiled eggs (omit or add more as desired)
3 tablespoons dark soy
1 tablespoon light soy
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
spring onions or coriander to garnish


Cooking:

• Heat thick-based metal soup pan on medium-high.
• Add 1 tablespoon of canola oil and add pork belly pieces.
• Fry until the meat is lightly caramelised, add garlic, star anise and mushrooms, fry for about a minute to release fragrance.
• Add 1 tablespoon dark soy, ensure meat is coated evenly and continue frying for 3 minutes.
• Add boiling water to contents, pour just enough to cover meat.
• Add remaining seasonings and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.
• Add hard-boiled eggs. (Add more water if more eggs are added and liquid is not enough. Then add another tablespoon of dark soy.)
• Simmer on low heat, check and stir contents in pot after 15 minutes.
• Turn eggs to ensure even coating of soy on whites.
• Simmer for another 15 minutes until liquid has thickened and reduced to 1/2.
• Garnish with spring onions.
• Serve with gravy and a side of vegetables on rice.

**Notes:

• I didn't add salt because the soy is already salty enough.
• This is a flavourful dish with high salt and fat content, so do limit consumption to once a month if having blocked arteries is not your goal.

Handmade Noodle (pasta) Soup - Mee Hoon Kueh （面粉果）

This is one of my favourite comfort food which I may never have to cook for myself. The technique of pulling and stretching the noodle dough is crucial for creating a smooth yet bouncy texture for the noodles and I have no patience for it. So all I need to do is to place the order with my sous chef and it will be served. However I must take note to order it at least an hour in advance so that the chef can prepare this at a comfortable pace, in less cranky mood.. LOL...


Serves 2 or 3

Dough Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup water
*Proportion - 2 flour : 1 water

Making the dough:

• Pour flour into a big bowl.
• Make a well in the middle of flour and gradually add water until loose crumbs are formed.
• Press crumbs together to form a dough. Knead until smooth.
• Sprinkle flour over dough and set aside.

Soup Ingredients:
1/2 cup of ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
100g chicken breast (sliced)
2 stalks Bak Choy or Choy Sum (chopped)
2 slices ginger
5 cups chicken stock
2 eggs (optional)
10 prawns (optional)
salt and white pepper to taste
spring onions or coriander and fried shallots or garlic to garnish


Cooking:

• Bring chicken stock to boil, add ikan bilis and ginger.
• Lower heat to medium.
• Rub fingers with flour and tear off a crumb of dough.
• Pull and stretch the dough until it resembles a rough piece of pasta, drop into soup.
• Continue with adding as much dough to soup as desired.
• Turn heat to high and add chicken and prawns when pieces of noodles begin to float to surface.
• Cook for about 3 minutes, add vegetables and eggs (if desired).
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Garnish and serve with fried ikan bilis and freshly cut red chilli padi in light soy.

**Notes:

• Remaining dough can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. It has to be dusted with flour for reuse.
• Adjust thickness and texture of the noodles according to preference by stretching and pulling the dough.
• Chicken can be replaced by seasoned pork meatballs or fish slices if desired.
  

Bibimbap Rice Bento - Ginger Wine Chicken

I think Singaporeans are very lucky and pampered where dining options is concerned. Good meals are always available within minutes of walking and it can cost as cheap as from $2.00 onwards. I have never felt the necessity to add bulk to my bags by bringing my own bentos or lunchboxes to work or school. However, the story is different when I was studying overseas. The most economical meals I could get were from fast food joints in the city and I was pretty sure that I couldn't find anything below $4.00 (unless during clearance sale prior to stall closing).. Let's not even talk about the quality of food and the distance you need to travel to get them if you work or study in the suburbs.

I used to plan my timetable in such a way that my lectures and tutorials either end by noon or they start in the afternoon. That way, I can avoid having lunch in the uni. However, occasionally I did give in to the "luxury" of eating in the uni's Asian cafeteria - $8.00 for 1 serving of meat + 3 strands of fibre (sometimes they will give vegetable stems when they are out of leaves) + steamed rice. (FYI, no subsidies or cheaper rates even though these are campus vendors targeting students, if you compare to the food vendors in Singapore unis or polytechnics). So I "try" to cook extra for dinners, so that I can pack a bento for the next day.

From left: stir-fried Ginger Wine Chicken, blanched Kai Lan, poached egg, shredded omelette with ham and mixed veggie (covered over rice)

Recipe for stir-fried Ginger Wine Chicken - Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 fillets skinless chicken breasts (cut into 2cm strips)
5 slices ginger (julienned finely)
1 small garlic (chopped finely)
canola oil
spring onions

Seasonings:
2 tablespoons Shaoxing Chinese wine
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dark soy
dash of sesame oil and salt

Preparation:
Combine seasonings in a bowl and marinate chicken strips for 10 minutes.

Cooking:

• Fry ginger in hot oil for 2 minutes until lightly browned.
• Add garlic and chicken, fry until fragrant.
• Add 1/4 cup water and simmer on medium heat for about 8 minutes until the water is reduced to 1/2, stirring occasionally.
• Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve.

Tricolour Sushi Bread

I made this at a time when I wanted to introduce some creativity while cutting down the time I take to prepare a sushi bento.


The ingredients and rolling method were the same as Tomato Spam Sushi. The only difference was that I had used salami slices and white bread in place of hotdog and seasoned rice. From the feedback I received, the texture and taste were refreshingly light and savory, so I considered it success personally.

Spicy Korean Ramen Stir-fry

The Nong Shim instant ramen was an all-time favourite amongst Asian students in Wollongong. It was so popular that it could be out-of-stock ever so often. Although I was pretty sure that the Asian Grocery in Gong was ripping us off by selling them at $0.90 AU individually, I remember that I had bought 5 to 8 packets in a single purchase, from time to time.. until I read "Manufactured in China" in very fineprint at the back of its packaging.


I know that these days, even iMac can be "Made in China", but I felt "cheated".. nonetheless... I realised only much later that a competitor brand - Paldo, was indeed manufactured in Korea even though the words "Korean Noodles" were scrawled explicitly (in Chinese) on its packaging. Talk about successful marketing.. I had been fooled by Nong Shim's packaging for a long time.. :p

Anyway, I got tired of eating the typical soupy version of Ramen and decided to stir-fry the noodles with some leftover roast chicken for a change.


Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 packet Nong Shim instant noodles - spicy mushroom flavour
1 large egg
1 cup roast chicken (shredded)
1 small garlic (chopped finely)
spring onions (chopped finely)
canola oil


Cooking:

• Bring 1 1/2 bowl of water to boil in a soup pan.
• Add noodles and cook for 2 minutes so that it is softened but slightly under-cooked. Drain water.
• In a non-stick pan, fry shredded chicken and dried vegetables (included in the Ramen package) with oil for about 1 minute.
• Add garlic and fry for another minute before adding the noodles and spring onions.
• Stir about 1/2 packet of powdered soup base (included in the Ramen package) evenly into the noodles.
• Fry for another minute and serve with a sunshine egg.
• Hot water can be added to the remaining half of the soup base to make a bowl of soup to go with the noodles.
  

Basically this can only serve as a quick-fix snack or supper. The serving is not big and it has HIGH carbo, HIGH salt and HIGH fat content.. BUT it certainly helps to satisfy the craving for spicy junk food during examination blues. Alternatively, leafy greens can be added to increase nutritional value and lessen consumption guilt.. lol

Sambal Fried Rice

I like to cook fried rice. It is economical and easy. We can get a balanced meal out of it by combining meat (for protein) and vegetables (for fibre).


Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 hotdog
2 large eggs
1 small bunch broccoli
1 garlic (chopped finely)
1 bowl leftover jasmine rice
canola oil

Seasonings:
1/2 teaspoon Thai sambal curry paste
1 tablespoon light soy
Dash of salt

Preparation:

• Beat eggs in a bowl lightly, fry and scramble in a non-stick pan. Set aside.
• Separate the thick stem from broccoli and cut into small stalks.
• Blanch stalks in boiling water for 5 minutes and set aside.
• Remove the tough skin of stem and cut into thin slices.
• Quarter hotdog (lengthwise) and cut into 1cm cubes.

Cooking:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in non-stick pan and fry hotdog until slightly crisp.
• Add garlic and broccoli stem slices, fry for 3 minutes.
• Add scrambled eggs and rice.
• Use wooden spatula to separate rice lumps, stirring constantly to mix the ingredients and fluff up the rice.
• Add blanched broccoli and Thai sambal when the rice is loose and soft.
• Mix sambal with rice and ingredients thoroughly, ensure rice is evenly coated.
• Add light soy and salt to taste.
• Fry for another 2 minutes and serve.

**Notes:

1. I prefer to use jasmine rice because it is more fragrant, softer and less starchy, but long grain or basmati is also fine.
2. A tip to keep rice moist during frying, lightly splash droplets of water over rice after you have loosen it. This will release steam and prevent the rice from hardening or getting too dry.
3. Always use leftoever rice for fried rice because freshly cooked rice is too moist and will result in a gooey mess.
4. Using a non-stick pan will prevent the rice from sticking to the pan and also prevent the usage of excessive oil.
   

Tomato Spam Sushi

Sushi rolls are ideal for bentos (lunch boxes) because you don't have to worry about heat retention and they are very easy to pack and eat, fuss-free.


Serves 1 to 2

Ingredients:
1 hotdog (quartered lengthwise)
1 large egg
8 stalks French beans
2 sheets Nori (seaweed for sushi)
Mayonnaise squeeze
Canola oil

Seasonings:
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons hot water
1 tablespoon light soy
Pinch of salt


Preparation - sushi rice:

• Combine and mix seasoning in a small bowl.
• Scoop and spread rice onto a large plate, stir in the mixed seasonings evenly and set aside.

Preparation - ingredients:

• Beat egg and pan-fry it into an omelette with canola oil in a non-stick pan.
• Cut cooled omelette into strips of 1cm width.
• Pan-fry hotdog strips and set aside to cool.
• Blanch French beans in boiling water for 5 minutes and set aside to cool.

Making the sushi roll:

• Wrap sushi mat with cling-firm
• Have a bowl of water and a clean, sharp knife on standby.
• Lay a Nori sheet (rough side facing upwards) on working top (make sure that it's clean and dry)
• Scoop half of the tomato rice and spread it evenly on the Nori, leaving s 1.5cm space from the top.
• Line strips of egg, 1 strip of hotdog, 4 stalks of French beans (2 on each side for the entire lenght of the roll) on top of the rice.
• Squeeze mayonnaise on top of the French beans.
• Begin rolling from the bottom up, use fingertup to manipulate the Nori while applying pressure on the rice, pressing the ingredients firmly together.
• Dab water on Nori's 1.5cm space to seal the roll.
• Use sushi mat to cover the entire roll and press firmly (shaping the roll into a squarish-like tube).
• Cut roll into halves with a sharp knife.
• Cut each half into halves and repeat the process until each roll's thickness is about 2cm.
• Repeat the same for the remaining rice.
  

**Notes:

1. Hotdog can be replaced by Spam or luncheon meat.
2. Hot water is used with the seasoning for softening and moistening of the leftover rice. If freshly-cooked rice is used, rice has to be cooled to lukewarm and water can be at room temperature.
3. 2 Sushi rolls can be made from 2 bowls of cooked rice