Herbal Bak Kut Teh

Herbal Bak Kut Teh, a friend brought this packet when she was visiting. This my first time trying this brand. Very yummy indeed. 

Added - salt , cloves of garlics, taupok, Chinese dried mushrooms & spareribs. Simmer for 3 hours. 😋

Simple Miso Soup

My kids love miso soup & I have been buying the packets miso soup to cook until my friend Angie, introduced me to the ingredients for miso soup. Ever since then I have been cooking my own miso soup.  They are easy to prepare & taste yummy!!! A good soybean paste will make your soup taste wonderful!!

Ingredients at a glance. 

Add soybean paste into the boiled bonito stock.

Pour the soup into the serving bowl with sliced leeks.

Simple Miso Soup

Ingredients 

Bonito stock - I used the 1 sachet & add water about 1 litre

2 tbsp soybean paste ( or more ) 

Some seaweeds for soup - soaked & cut small 

1 Leek - thinly sliced

1 block soft tofu for soup / steaming - diced. I did not use tofu in today's soup. 

Preparation steps: 

1. In a pot add the water & bonito powder. Bring to boil. 

2. Lower the heat. Add the seaweeds & soybean paste & tofu. Simmer for 10 mins. 

3. Place the leeks in the serving bowls & pour soup over the leeks. 

Voilà! 

Chin's notes:

1. Soybean paste is salty, do adjust according to your preferrence. Add more water if the soup is too salty. 

2. You can also use white radish, thinly sliced.

3. I do not cook my leeks cos I like them a little raw. 

4. There are 2 different types of soybean paste white / dark brown. 

Shrimp Wontan

Made some shrimp wontans for tonight's dinner. There are many ways to eat them. :p

Shirmp Wanton Recipe: 

Makes 25 - 30 wontans

200g of medium size fresh prawns / shrimps. Remove shells & minced. 

5 pieces of water chestnuts - diced

1 stalk spring onions finely sliced. 

3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped 

2 dried mushrooms - soaked & sliced

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp corn flour

3 - 4 leaves of Napa cabbage / Chinese cabbage - boil to soften, sliced thinly & squeeze out the water from the vegetables. 

Salt & Pepper to taste

Wontan skin 

Spring onions / fried onions for garnishing. 

Preparation steps: 

1. Mixed all the ingredients in a bowl. 

2. Take some mixture & put in the middle of the wontan skin & seal the edges with some water. 

3. Fill up a pot & add some salt, bring to boil. Put the wontans in, once they floats, they are ready. 

4. Dish them out & put them in the their respective serving bowls. 

Voilà ! Now you can have them with noodles or just with soup or dip in black vinegar. Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. I made simple soup, just chicken stocks & nappa cabbage, season with salt & pepper. Add the wontans to the soup. 

2. Cook some wontan noodles, add the wontans & served with soup. 

3. These are nice to eat with black vinegar & sliced ginger.

Sea Kelp, Daikon & Pork Soup

Today decided to brew some soup. It has been a while since I last brewed this soup.  It is a clear soup & very tasty if I brew it long enough. Simmering in my ceramic soup pot for at least 2 hours or longer. 

At dinner time, after 3 hrs of brewing. Voilà !!! 

Sea Kelp, Daikon & Pork soup Recipe

Ingredients: 

300g Spare ribs / lean pork - if you like you can add more meat. 

1/2 daikon - slice thinly / cut chucks

1 carrot - cut chuncks 

50g of dried kelps - soaked & cut

10g wolfberry ( kei-chi in Cantonese) 

10 dried red dates

Few pieces of dried scallops / dried cuttlefish ( optional ) 

7 bowls of water. 

Salt to taste

Preparation steps:

1. Blanch the meat in boiling water, remove & clean.

2. In a separate pot add water & bring to boil. 

3. Add in the remaining ingredients & bring it to boil. Then simmer until the soup water reduced to 5 - 4 bowls.

4. Lastly add salt to taste. 

5. Served hot. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes : 

1. I sometimes used my pressure cooker / Thermal pot to reduced the cooking time. 

2. I'll normally add dried cuttlefish but today I forgot ;) 

3.There are different types of kelps.  Some are knotted. Adjust the amount accordingly. These was what I used.

After soaked, they doubled in the amount. Hence adjust the amount accordingly. 

Quick Easy Hot Pot

The Chinese in South East Asia, will normally called this "Steamed Boat", maybe in the past we used a special pot that used charcoal to cook all the ingredients.

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Special brooth is used to cook all the wonderful ingredients. Any seafood, vegetables, meat all cook in one big pot of soup. 

Today, gas stove or electric stove is commonly used. 

Whenever I'm lazy, I'll just prepare with knor chicken cubes. Add all the ingredients in & bring it to boil.  Perfect for a cold weather too!!! 

Voilà !! Lunch or Dinner is served! :) 

Most popular Chinese Soup - ABC soup

Most of us grew up with this homely soup. It is easy to prepare with just a few easily available ingredients. 

ABC Soup Recipe : 

Ingredients : 

4 Chicken thigh / 200g lean pork / 300g pork ribs - cleaned & cut into large pieces. 

2 carrots - cut chuncks

2 large potatoes - cut chucks 

2 brown onions - cut chuncks

1 big tomatoes - cut chuncks 

1 sweet corn (optional) - cut 4 

Salt & pepper to taste. 

2L water

Preparation steps : 

1. Blanch & wash the meat and set aside. 

2. In a large soup pot, bring water to boiling point add in the meat & bring to boil again. 

3. Add in the remaining ingredients.  Bring to boil & smimmer until meat is soft, water reduced & soup thinken. 

4. Season with salt & pepper. 

5. Serve hot.

Bon appétit !

Chin's notes: 

1. Normally takes 2 - 3 hour to brew on medium to low heat on the stove. 

2. Using Thermos pot / magic pot / pressure cooker can reduced the cooking time greatly. Use lesser water, as the water will not evaporate much. 

One Dish with Steamed rice

My lazy meal, "One Dish" which has , tofu, veggies, meatballs & soup!!! Quick & easy to prepare! 

Ingredients : 

1L of water water 

200g minced pork

Some Leafy veggies like Chinese bok-choi / Chinese cabbage

1/2 cube of chicken stock cube. 

1 pkt of silky tofu suitable for soup. 

Salt & pepper to taste. 

1 tbsp cornflour 

1 tbsp oyster sauce

Spring onions & sesame oil for garnishing 

Preparation steps : 

1. Marinate the pork with oyster sauce, salt & pepper & cornflour set aside for 30mins. 

2. Clean & cut the veggies & set aside. 

3. Put the water in a pot & bring to boil. 

4. Add the chicken stock cube. 

5. Shape minced pork into meatballs & add into soup. 

6. Add in the veggies & bring to boil. 

7. Cut the tofu into cubes & add into the soup. Bring to boil then add salt & pepper to taste. Turn off the flame. 

8. Serve onto serving bowls, garnish with spring onions & some sesame oil. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Chicken stock can be used. Then chicken stock cube is not required. 

2. Can use soya sauce instead of salt, it will give the soup a richer taste. 

Thick Corn Soup

A Simple & easy to make soup, I love thick soup but I just found out that my kids do not like thick soup. Hmmm..

Here is the recipe the soup & hope you like them. 

Serve 5 

Ingredients :

200g minced pork / chicken meat.

1 tbsp of oyster sauce 

1 tbsp of shaoxing cooking wine

100g of corns - I used canned corns

1 large egg lightly beaten

1" ginger - thinly sliced

2 clove of garlic - chopped 

2 tbsp of cooking oil

Light soya sauce to taste

Pepper to taste

3-4 tbsp of corn flour mix with some water for thickening the soup. 

Preparation Steps : 

1. Marinate the meat, with oyster sauce, shaoxing wine & set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 

2. Heat up the wok, add in the cooking oil. Fry the garlic & ginger until they are fragrant.

3. Add in the meat & fry until they are almost cooked. Add in the 5 bowls (about 1L) of water. Add in the corns, soya sauce & bring to boil.

4. Stirring the soup while you pour in the corn flour mixture. You have to stir otherwise you'll get lots of starch lumps in your soup. 

5. Turn off the flame, hold your eggs high & pour in the egg. Swirl around the wok of soup. 

6. Serve hot, garnish with spring onions & with a dash of pepper! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Use lesser corn flour if you do not like very thick soup. My soup bowl is about 200ml of water. 

2. Careful when you pour in the corn flour mixture, remember to keep stirring the soup while you pour in corn flour mixture to prevent starch lumps.

3. Can be served with black vinegar if you like vinegar. But I prefer them as it is with some pepper. 

Bon appétit ! 

Flower Egg Soup

An easy dish, when I needed a quick soup to go with my meals.

Serve 5

Ingredients

200g chicken meat cut into bite size 

10 - 12 medium size prawns, cleaned.

2 big tomatoes cut into chuncks

1" ginger thinly sliced

2 garlic - chopped. 

1 tbsp oyster sauce 

1 tbsp Huatiao cooking wine.

Pepper to taste

5 bowls of water 

3 eggs - beaten

1 - 2 tbsp of cooking oil for frying. 

Light soya sauce to taste. 

Methods :

1. Marinate chicken with oyster sauce, cooking wine & pepper before you start preparing the other ingredients. 

2. Heat up wok, add in the oil. When is all heated, add in the garlic & ginger, fry until fragrant. 

3. Add in the chicken, fry until almost cooked. Add in the tomatoes. Fry a little until you see signs of tomatoes skin peeling.

4. Add in the prawns & water. Bring to boil. Add in light soya sauce. 

5. Turn off the flame. Hold the beaten eggs high & pour thinly, swirl around the soup.

6. Serve hot with spring onions. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes :

1. I find that when the tomatoes are cooked ( skin peeling ), the soup taste better. 

2. This recipe is also ideal for thick soup. If you like thick soup, you can add 4 - 5 tbsp ( depending on the amount of water you have prepared) of corn flour mixed with some water.  Add to the soup ( in step 4) before you swirl in the eggs.