Mustard Green Soup with Fish Balls

This is a very quick soup taught to me by my late grandpa when I was 9. In fact this is one of the earliest dish I 've ever cooked. Grandpa was the gourmet of the house and he taught my grandma and my mom how to cook. He passed away recently at the grand old age of 101. I still remember how he used to stand behind me in the kitchen and told me how to cook different dishes. Mustard Green is a very healthy veg, and has anti-cancer properties. The longer you boil mustard green, the sweeter the soup becomes. This is a kind of 'cheapo' soup, you get great tasting soup, and the fish balls and veg can be served as a separate dish.


Ingredients:
Mustard Green (choose those without a lot of leaves, you can even just use the stems)1 big bulb
Fish balls (fresh or cooked)
Fish cakes, sliced
Ginger, 3 slices

Methods:
1. Wash Mustard Green thoroughly, cut into big pieces
2. Soak fish balls and fish cake slices in water to remove some of the salt
3. In a soup pot over medium-high heat, add a little oil, add 2 ginger slices and fish balls and fish cake slices. Stir fry for about 3 mins. Remove
4. Fill soup pot with about 3L water, add mustard green chunks and remaining ginger slices, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 mins
5. Add fried fish balls and fish cake slices, simmer for 5-10 more mins
6. Scoop the mustard green and fish balls/cake out and serve as a separate dish

Mixed Mushroom and Tofu

We are a mushroom and tofu family. We have tofu 4 times a week and we love mushrooms. This dish oozes with the earthy aromas of mushrooms. I usually take a bunch each of each kind of fresh mushroom from the supermarket's mushroom shelf.

Ingredients:

Mixture of fresh mushrooms
(shitake, shimeji, oyster, eringii, bai ling, button, maitake etc)
Tofu (for frying) 2 packets
Oyster sauce 2 tbsp
Dark soysauce 1 tbsp
Light soysauce 2 tbsp
Chinese wine 2 tbsp
Garlic, 3 cloves, chopped finely
Oil, 2 tsp
Chopped chinese parsley, chinese celery, spring onion, 2 tbsp for garnish


Methods:
1. Separate or slice mushroom in to thick slices (remember they release juices and shrink after cooking)
2. Cut tofu into large cubes
3. In the wok over medium-high heat, pour in oil and garlic. Fry garlic until fragrant.
4. Put in mushrooms, stir fry quickly to avoid sticking.
5. Add Chinese Wine, Stir thouroghly, add the other seasoning(soysauce, oyster sauce)
6. When mushrooms juice start coming out, add tofu. Add a touch of water if necessary to cover 3/4 of all ingredients
7. Cover and simmer in low-medium heat for 5-7 mins. Adjust taste with salt/sugar
8. Sprinkle chopped parsley/celery/spring onion and mix well. Cover for 1 min more and serve!

Note:
- Experiment with difference mixture of mushrooms, I even add in soaked dry fungi like 'Cloud Ear', 'Snow Ear' etc. They give a crunchy texture to the dish

Tandoori Chicken

I have craving for Tandoori Chicken the past few days, and by chance, I found packeted Tandoori Masala Powder in my local Indian grocery shop. So I marinated the chicken for a night, and Grilled the chicken in the oven.... The aroma coming out from the oven was Subliminal!!! We served it with rice and some Japanese style veggie curry... Soul food!!

Ingredients:
Tandoori Masala, 1 packet
Thick Yogurt, 1 medium tub
Chicken, 2 (skinned)
Salt (1 tbsp)
Red edible color (optional)


Methods:
1. Make deep score on the chicken breasts, and thighs so flavours would go deep inside the meat.
2. mix the spice mix and salt with Yogurt, add red edible color if using to desired color.
3. marinate chicken in spiced yogurt, making sure the whole chicken is covered with the paste.
4. marinate chicken for 4 hours at least in the fridge or overnight.
5. Preheat grill to 220 degrees
6. Place chicken on grilling rack lined with foil, put under the grill for 20 mins.
7. Turn chicken and grill for another 20mins, baste with remaining marinate
8. Check that chicken is cooked through, Serve and enjoy!

Stir Fried Pork Slices with Young Ginger

This is a very fragrant and appetizing dish. The young ginger slices give out a beautiful warm aroma and pair wonderfully with pork slices.

Ingredients:
Pork (lean pork or shoulder) 300gm, sliced
Young Ginger, medium, sliced thinly

Marinate:
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1/2 tsp
Oil 1 tsp
Corn Starch 1 tsp
Light Soysauce 1-2 tsp

Seasoning:
Oyster sauce 2 tsp
salt/sugar to taste

water 50-100 ml

Methods:
1. Marinate Pork slices with marinate ingredients
2. In a frying pan over medium heat, pour in 1.5 tsp oil, tip the pork slices in and stir fry to about 5 mins until they have just turned color, place in a plate
3. Use just a little oil, stir fry the young ginger slices until fragrant. Add the pork slices back in. Season with oyster sauce, adjust taste with salt/sugar if necessary. Add in a touch of water, cover and simmer for 3-5 mins.
4. remove from frying pan and serve.