Bay Leaves Onion Chicken

This dish was created when I was in an incredibly bad mood. I wanted to make a mess out of my food and probably eat and feel worse. It didn't turn out badly. Was good even. God. Which made me even more disappointed that same day... This sort of reminds me of Stephen Chow in God of Cookery, where he made a plate of char siew rice that made the judges cry.

1) Marinate the chicken with oyster sauce, shaoxing wine and pepper. More wine better.
2) Mince garlic and onion. Fry till fragrant.
3) Add chicken.
4) Add a dash of dark soya sauce.
5) Add the bay leaves. 2 pieces will do.

Its kinda of a fusion dish. Chinese ala Italian job.

And yes, I'm not in a good mood today... So I decided to post my sad dish here online.

Mushroom Pizza!!

Perennial fave! Like what my Internationl Student liaison said: You can only survive for about a week on pizza! This one's easy as...pizza...er...pie!!

What you need:
Fresh or frozen Pizza base (one large one, or 4 small ones, or 2 medium ones...whatever your stomach commands!!)
Flat mushrooms sliced thinly
Fetta cheese, crumbled
Fresh chives
Pizza cheese (which is a mix of mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan)


So you then:
1. Preheat oven to hot
2. Place pizza base on baking tray*
3. Sprinkle half the pizza cheese on the base
4. Add mushrooms, fetta cheese and chives
5. Top with remaining pizza cheese
6. Bake uncovered in a hot oven until cheese has melted and browned and bases are crisp. Should take about 15 minutes.
7. EAT!!

*It's easier to move a full pizza to the oven WITH the tray than to move a full pizza TO the tray. You lose less toppings. To all of little faith, try it out yourself!!

Fried Wanton

This was a crowd puller when I was still staying in hostel. In fact, I'd cook it every year at floor supper. Became quite a popular dish, cos before I can even serve it... Half of what I prepared has been finished! Oh, darn it! Hahhaha...

Ingredients:
Minced pork/chicken (mince it again when you get home)
Light soya sauce
Pepper
Wanton wrappers
1 egg white

1) Mix minced meat with light soya sauce and pepper. Now, here's the secret. How much light soya sauce and pepper to put in? You've got to train up your nose to being sensitive to how much saltiness and peppery. This is an important skill for learning how to make marinates.

2) If desired, you can put in stuffings like lap cheong (chinese sausage) or dried mushrooms (cooked already ones hoh!)

3) Wrap meat into wantons. Seal the wantons with egg white. Water is fine too.

4) Ready to fry!

5) Fry it and use paper towels to soak up extra oil after cooking.

Mushroom Galore

The beauty about mushrooms is that they come wonderfully favoured. And you don't really want to make it too complicated. So this dish is especially easy on the tongue and healthy too. This dish is dedicated to Yenkai's mom, who's not in a good state of health right now. And its easy for you to cook hoh, Ah Kai. No excuses for the Everester.

1) Wash shitake mushrooms and long golden mushrooms.

2) Chop shitake mushrooms into bite sizes, if desired. Long golden mushrooms have to have their bottoms cut. Shred the long golden mushrooms into smaller pieces too.

3) Mince garlic.

4) Fry garlic with olive oil till fragrant.

5) Dunk in the mushrooms. Give it a good stir. Fry till soft.

6) Add just a small pinch of salt for taste.

7) Ready to serve.

BBQ Stingray!

I love barbeques (not chalets tho). So I love to prepare this dish and pack it along to most barbies. My friends adore it, cos its simple and best part... idiot proof. Make sure you choose a good piece of stingray. Thickness matters in how well the fish cooks, so don't pick too thick a piece. Colour of the fish is important too, cos that's how you determine how fresh it really is. Pick one that is reddish in colour.

1) Wash the fish. Pat dry with paper towel.

2) Marinate fish with 1 table spoon of light soya sauce and 1 table spoon of oyster sauce. Gives the fish a bit of saltiness. Very nice. Wrap with aluminium foil. Marinate for 2 hours at least.

3) Slice up 1 medium sized onion into slivers.

4) Fry onion with a bit of oil till fragrant.

5) Here's the important bit. TAIHO-brand sambal belacan sauce. You can get it at NTUC.

6) Put in as much sambal as you like into the onion. Fry it till fragrant.

7) Dunk the sambal and onion mix on top of fish.

8) Grill fish with sambal mix wrapped in aluminium foil in the oven-toaster for 20 - 30 minutes. This depends on the thickness of fish. How to tell if its done? Just see if your fork can pierce thru the flesh nearest to the cartidge of fish.

Who said you cannot have hawker food at home?

Perth Chilli Mussels!

Now this is one of my favourites. The resulting sauce can be used to cook seafood gumbo, which is really a steamboat pot of the Perth Chilli sauce. Thanks to Terence, ala the Iron Chef! He stayed in Perth for a while, so here's a really great dish.

1) Wash the mussels. Scrub the shells with a new piece of green wool (those stuff you scrub pots with. Wash it thoroughly, ensure there is no soap left in it!). De-beard the mussels by pulling it in one direction.

2) Chop 5 tomatoes into dices. Mince 1 entire clove of garlic. Slice 1 big handful of chilli.

3) Cut 100g of butter. Melt the butter into a big heated wok. Dunk in the minced garlic and fry till its fragrant (not browned!). Pour in a can of tomato puree (not paste hoh. made that fatal mistake before). Dunk in the cubed tomatoes and mi. Let it cook for a bit till it boils. Lower heat.

4) While simmering the sauce, throw in your handful of chilli. Now here comes the magical bit... ONE cupful of white wine. Cannot forget that. This is the power stuff. No need to buy expensive stuff. A small bottle of white from Jacob's Creek bought off NTUC shelves would work.

5) Throw in the mussels! Once the shells open, its time to remove the shells from the fire. You can keep recycling the sauce till you finish cooking all the shells.

6) Eat mussels with sauce... To die for! Make it drink the sauce!

Tip: I get my mussels fresh from the sea. So God knows what the mussels process before it lands into my tummies. Here's what I picked up from a cookbook. Steam the mussels after cleaning with just a bit of water. Once the shells open, remove from fire and cook as per-norm. Every bit as good. Just in case you are hepatitis-phobic.

Another thing about the sauce, you can freeze leftovers to cook for another ocassion.

Roast Veggies and Couscous

In case you're wondering, couscous (koos-koos) is crushed semolina, a product of wheat. It's usually sold in its dried form and becomes fluffy when steamed. Makes a great replacement for rice! This is also a great dish for leftover veggies.

1. Chop up a whole host of veggies into huge chunks. . Huge chunks because veggies shrink when cooked and you want to be able to SEE what you eat. Veggies can range from potatoes, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, capsicum, turnip, onions, pumpkin (skinned)....use your imagination!!

2. Toss into a baking tray and drizzle generously with olive oil. Make sure that all the veggies are coated.

3. Bake in an oven at medium-high heat until veggies are roasted to your liking. This would usually take about 45 minutes to an hour mainly because potatoes take a long time to cook.

4. Before the roasting is done, prepare the couscous. It's usually in a 1-1 ratio (ie one cup liquid to one cup couscous). You can use either water or broth for more flavour. Bring the water/broth to a boil and add to the couscous and cover. At this point, you can add butter/salt for flavour. For first timers, I suggest you try it without adding any seasoning first, just to gauge how much seasoning you would need. It's cooked in 5 minutes!! Leave covered to keep warm.

5. When the veggies are done, add seasoning to taste.

6. Fluff couscous with a fork and serve the veggies on the side!

As an extra, cut the tops off a whole clove of garlic and roast it along with the veggies. When soft and roasted, squeeze the garlic out of their skins and mix with the couscous for an extra flavour boost!

*Tip: when using potatoes, parboil the potatoes and drain well before mixing with the rest of the veggies for roasting. This will cut down roasting time.

Pasta and Pesto

What you need:

1 bottle of sun-dried tomato pesto (with or without cream, Leggos I think)
1 packet of dried Pasta

1. Fill ½ a medium sized pot with water
2. Heat on stove until boiling
3. Add desired amount of pasta and cook as per instructions on packet
4. Drain cooked pasta (no uncooked bits in middle when bitten)
5. Add desired amount of pesto and stir through.
6. Add steamed veggies for balanced meal.

Carbonara Sauce for Pasta

I tend to cheat when I cook carbonara. To be really honest, I don't know how to cook carbonara. So what do I do? I would use Campbell's Chunky New England Clam Chowder.

1) Get 100g of bacon from the supermarket. Cut into 1cm pieces. Fry in a non-stick pan. Fry it till its fat is more or less "melted" down into liquid oil. And you've got crispy little bits of bacon. Remove bits of bacon from fire. Leave oil in pan

2) Cut fresh shitake mushrooms into tiny bits. Dunk into the frying pan with the lot of bacon oil. Fry till fragrant.

3) Add milk. Like 3/4 cup would be lovely. Let the mix thicken on its own. Stir constantly.

4) When the mix thickens a little, dunk in the can of clam chowder (remember to open the can! haha). Sprinkle in Italian herbs.

5) Let the sauce simmer a bit. Make sure you stir it once in a while. Don't let it char!

6) If you reaaaaaally need to let the sauce thicken... Stir in one beated egg. Stir in small quantities.

7) Ready to serve? Throw in the crispy bacon bits! Add more Italian herbs for great taste!

Who said that you can't cheat on carbonara sauce? Ha!

Paprika Chicken

What can I say, I love reading Food magazines!!!

4 Chicken pieces with bones still in
1 tbsp Sweet paprika/Hungarian Paprika (But not spicy!! Can be bought in little bottles in the spice aisle)
Fresh Button mushrooms (not canned unless desperate)
Cream (little)
1 ½ cups Chicken stock ( can be bought in cartons)
Olive oil to fry
Onion (NOT Spanish red onion)

1. Brown chicken in olive oil
2. Remove and set aside
3. Drain of excess oil
4. Add paprika
5. Add chicken stock and stir
6. Add chicken pieces
7. Lower heat, cover and simmer slowly for 1/2 hour (15 mins is also fine)
8. Add cream and stir

9. Season to taste and serve with veggies and rice for balanced meals

Idiot-proof Chicken Wings

Pinched this recipie from a friend when I was staying on-campus during my Uni days. Works like a charm and can be used for barbeques!!

What you will need:
Chicken wings
Oyster sauce

1. Wash wings and pat dry
2. Put chicken wings into a container
3. Add oyster sauce until wings are evenly covered
4. Marinate for ½ hr (minimum) or 1 day (but not one week!)
5. Grill, bake or fry!
6. Chicken is cooked when your knife is able to pierce the flesh easily!

Yummy!

Whipped Potato

This recipe doesn't really belong to me, but Chris Wu of Perth. I got to know Chris while travelling to Perth to visit Christine. And Chris, a Malaysian, makes a mean whipped potato. And you know what... It ain't made of potato starch! Raw potatoes!

1) Wash the potatoes. Cube the buggers. Dunk into a pot of water. Put in a dash of salt.

2) Put the cubed potatoes with water into a microwaveable pot (with lid). Make sure the water quantity is more than the potatoes by 2cm water level.

3) Microwave the potatoes for 20 minutes solid.

4) Drain the water from the potato pot.

5) Mash with fork.

6) Now this is the best part. Cut 100g of butter and chuck it into the mix. (actually the more the better, hehe) Mix evenly till butter is totally integrated with potato. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7) Potato good to serve! Put in other stuff like bacon bits if you want!

Peaches and Cream

Got this from a housemate of mine, who was a chef before he became a Uni student before he became a biology student. Thanks Josh!!

You will need:

1 carton whipping cream (not whipped cream, not face cream. Read the carton to see if it is suitable for whipping)
1 can of peaches

1.Pour cream in to large clean bowl (the larger the better, for better whipping space of course!)
2.Whip with whisk (or fork) until cream becomes stiff (you know its stiff when you scoop the cream with a spoon and a dent still remains in the cream in the bowl)
3. Cover with cling wrap and chill in fridge.
4. Before serving dessert, open canned peaches.
5. Drain and save the liquid.
6. Divide chilled cream into individual serving bowls.
7. Topped with a few slices of peaches.
8. Drizzle a tablespoon of the liquid on top of the peaches and cream.

Serve and enjoy!!

Salsa Sauce

This is really too easy. Its like making a salad. Chop chop chop and mix it all up!

What you would need:
4 Tomatoes (diced)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 whole onion (medium sized and sliced into slivers)
1 chilli (minced)
Extra Virgin Olive oil
Italian Herbs
Chilli Sauce.

Just mix the lot up in a bowl. How much of olive oil, herbs and chilli sauce to put? Just as much as you would like! Taste as you go. Cooking... serves the taste buds of its chef best!

Easy Fried Chicken Wings

You know the fried chicken wings you had in the school canteen from the malay stall? Its really easy to cook. And now, you can cook it at a fraction the price.

1) Wash the chicken wings. Pat dry with kitchen towels.

2) Get a little packet of tumeric powder. If you don't know how much to buy, just use like 3 heaped table spoons of tumeric powder to cook the chicken. I figure its enough for like 6 wings easily.

3) Mix 2 parts tumeric powder to 1 part salt. If you have some of those flour good for frying chicken, use it too! Makes it more tasty.

4) Rubba-hubba it onto the chicken. For the next part, I have to thank Chinyuen, my hall senior who taught me how to evenly coat my chicken. Use a deep pot. Dunk in the tumeric-salt-flour mix. Throw in the chicken wings. Cover with a large plate or lid (whatever you have). Shake it up and down, left and right. Leave the cover on the pot for a bit (just to let the powder settle). Very important thing to note: Only do this 5 minutes b4 frying.

5) Heat the oil up in the frying wok. Wash the wok. Dry it. Heat the wok first. How hot should it be? Well, put your hand over the top of the wok about 3 inches above(don't worry, it won't cook it just yet). Feel the heat against your hand. Warm? Not good enough. HOT? Good, that's how it should be. Add in the oil, just pour as much as you like. (cos what is fried chicken wings without all the oil in the world?)

6) How hot should the oil be? Hot enough to see some bubbles on your wooden chopstick which you have placed into the wok of oil. Now that's the cooking temperature ready to go.

7) Put in the wings. Maybe 2 at a time would be good for starters. Just to build your confidence.

8) Cook till golden brown. NOT burnt. Make sure you keep flipping the chicken.

Easy-peasy. (The clean-up is not as easy tho. Drone...)

Baked Salmon

For those who know me, you'd prolly know that I love salmon. Best fish you can get... Healthy. Cod is one of my other favourites. Anyways, this is a oven-toaster dish. Don't have one? Just try pan-frying. Works as well. This doesn't take more than 5 minutes to prepare

1) Wash the fish that you bought!
You prolly bought it from the local supermarket. Give it a bit of a wash and pat dry with kitchen towels.

2) Marinate with salt and pepper.
Not too much salt. Go easy, cos you don't want to die of heart attack too young. Pepper, go generous on it! Use coarse pepper! Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the fish. If you have a bottle of Masterfood's Italian herbs, put a dash on as well. Adds a nice herby taste to the food.

3) Wrap the marinated fish with aluminium foil. Put aside in fridge for at least 2 hours. No marinated meats taste good without sufficient time to sit in.

4) Cut a bit of butter which you have left in the open for a while (this is to soften the bugger... i mean butter). Drop the dollop onto the fish in the foil.

5) Dunk the wrapped fish into the oven-toaster for 20 minutes.

6) Cooked to perfection and ready to serve.

Melmos

Dedicated to those who love to eat, but cannot cook.

You know who you are...

That's what you are here for.

Now, I don't reaaaaaaaaally have a grill at home, so there's not a lot of grill stuff. What I have in place is an oven-toaster. It works for me... Well, get one. Doesn't cost more than $30 for one. I like my little oven-toaster. It cooks my meat and toasts my bread! What the heck. Get one already!

I can't bake for nuts either, cos I don't believe cooking is a science. However, I'm in contact with those who can bake and trying to get recipes for those.

Photos will come soon! I promise.

Lastly, most of the food is easily avail in Singapore. Try NTUC or Shop N Save. I don't buy Cold Storage or Jason's cos its expensive. So trust me...

Every bit of this is do-able.