Pineapple Tarts

Wow.... Chinese New Year is around the corner... Now you can find alot of those New Year Cookies all around Singapore. Pineapple tarts is one of the most famous cookies of all. Since I had a packet of pineapple paste which is in the fridge, I decided to do a trial on this before making the actual stuffs for New Year next two weeks. This recipe is from one of the mum's in the M4M site but I modify it a bit with the ingredients. The texture of this cookies is those Melt In Your Mouth type..... so you will find it very hard to resists yourself on keep eating them.....




Ingredients Pastry Dough:
300g Plain Flour
40g Milk Powder
1.5 Tablespoon Icing Sugar
250g Cold Butter, cubed
1 Egg Yolk, lightly beaten
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 Beaten Egg, for glazing

Methods:
1. Put sifted flour, milk powder and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (must be fast or else the butter will melt and the dough will became very soft)
3. Beat in the egg yolk and essence.
4. Mix well to form a dough. Place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Roll pastry out to 0.5 cm thickness on a lightly-floured tabletop and cut out rounds with a tart cutter.
6. Glaze the tart based with beaten egg then fill each piece of cut-out pastry with pineapple jam filling.
7. Cut thin strips of pastry to form a lattice on top of each tart.
8. Preheated oven at 180°C and bake the tarts for 15 minutes.
9. Reduce the temperature to 170°C and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until golden.
10. Turn tarts out to cool on a wire rack before storing in air-tight containers.

Notes: This is a very soft dough, so you can divide the dough into a few portion and keep the rest in the fridge while working with 1 portion.
Or you can flour the dough with some extra flour and work fast with the cutter, cut out all the tarts base frist then brush with beaten egg and top with pineapple fillings.
You can get those ready made pineapple filling from most baking stores, you can roll them into small cherry size balls and place it in plastic container first before making the dough.

Low Fat Carrot Cake

I had always wanted to try making English Carrot Cake which I found it rather strange. As for this Low Fat Carrot Cake recipe since it does not require any oil or butter so I decided to give it a try. And surprisingly it really turn out to be nice......... It had the taste and fragrant of carrot, lemon and ground almond. And it's rather moist and spongy as well.




Ingredients:
70g Plain Flour
35g Ground Almond Meal
100g Carrot, finely grated
1 Lemon Rind
3 Egg Yolks
35g Caster Sugar
3 Egg Whites
35g Caster Sugar
1 Tablespoon Of Raisin
1 Tablespoon of Pumpkin Seeds
25 x 9 x 6cm Mould, greased

Methods:
1. Peel the skin from the carrot and finely grated it.
2. Wash and finely grated the skin from 1 Lemon.
3. Sift Flour and Ground Almond together and set aside for later used.
4. Cream the egg yolks with 40g sugar until light and creamy.
5. In another bowl beat egg white until bubbles then slowly add in the sugar in a few batches and continue to beat until almost stiff peak form.
6. Add carrot and lemon into egg yolk mixture and stir well, then stir in 1/3 of the egg white mixture until well combine.
7. Next gentlely fold in the rest of the egg white mixture slowly and follow by the sifted flour, ground almond and raisin.
8. Pour the mixture into the mould and baked at 170 degree for 30-40 minutes, sprinkler the pumpkin seed on top of the cake at about 20 mins after the cake had baked.
9. Test with a skewer to see whether the cake is cooked thru.
10. Leave the cake overnight before cutting.

Notes: I used those type of 18 x 7 x 4cm disposerable paper mould and bake for about 25 mins.

Perilla Chicken Roll

Perilla(紫苏/大叶) is broad and has a sweet flavour with the scent of plum. They are commonly used in Japanese Barbecue skewers, salads and sashimi. After searching for a longtime I finally managed to find this Perialla leave at Takashimaya Cold Storage which cost about $2.05 for packet of 10 Leaves.


Ingredients:
300g Chicken Fillets
100g Small Asparagus or Carrot, cut into long strips
10 Perilla(紫苏/大叶) Leaves
1 Packet Lee Kum Kee Terriyaki Sauce
Ground White Pepper

Methods:
1. Rinse chicken fillet, pat dry and sprinkle ground white pepper on it.
2. Cut each small asparagus into 3 short lengths or carrot cut into long strips. Then blanch them in hot water until tender and drain in tap water.
3. Lay chicken fillet flat, arrange perilla leaves and a section of asparagus/carrot on each chicken fillet.
4. Roll up and fix the open end with a toothpick.
5. Heat oil in pan and fry chicken rolls until cooked or golden brown.
6. Pour in half packet to 3/4 packet of Terriyaki Sauce with 2-3 tablespoon water and let the chicken roll absorb the favour for a minute then serve.

Note:
You can used Japanese Eel Sauce instead of Terriyaki Sauce.

To us, the taste of the Perilla Leaves is sort of like Lemon Grass. It's indeed a very interesting dish to try on.

Assorted Melting Moments

A perennial favourite, these buttery little treats will bring back memories of taking licking the cream and the biscuits. It'a a very easy to make cookies which take about 30 minutes to prepare. For these Assorted Melting Moments, I used butter cream, coffee cream and chocolate cream.




Ingredients: (makes about 25)
250g Butter
80g Icing Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
75g Cornflour
225g Plain Flour

Methods:
1. Preheat the oven to about 170 degree and line baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat the butter, sifted icing sugar mixture and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale.
3. Stir in the combined sifted flours in two batches.
4. With lightly floured hands, roll two level teaspoons of mixture into balls and place on oven tray about 3cm apart.
5. Dip a fork into a little extra flour and press down lightly onto each biscuits to flatten slightly.
6. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until biscuits are a pale straw colour.
7. Stand the biscuit on the trays for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Butter Cream:
80g Butter
100g Icing Sugar
1 Teaspoon Finely Grated Lemon Rind
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

Methods:
1. Beat the butter, sifted icing sugar mixture and rind in a small bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
2. Beat in the juice.
3. To serve, sandwich two biscuits with a teaspoon of the cream and dust with a little extra sifted icing sugar.

Christmas Log Cake

I had actually wish to make a decent Log Cake since last year. Some of the Christmas Cake Decorations are bought last years........ So after much Struggler and inspiration from those expert in the M4M site. I decided to come try and make a Mini Log Cake using bit and pieces recipe that I collect for the cake and cream. Actually the cake itself is not difficult, the most challenging part is the cream and how to spread it nicely and add in the decorations. I believed everyone can do it and it's only a matter of time and efforts. So do give it a try if you are interested.




Ingredients For Cake:
3 Medium Eggs
90g Sugar
30g Plain Flour
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Methods:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree and grease the base of a Swiss roll tin.
2. Place the eggs in a bowl with sugar and beat with electric beaters for about 8 minutes or until the mixture is thick and creamy.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa together and gently fold into the egg mixture with a metal spoon.
4. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and bake for about 12 minutes or until the cake is just set.
5. When the cake is cooked, turn it out immediately onto the prepared paper and roll the cake up from the long side, rolling the paper inside the roll and using the tea towel as a guide.
6. Stand the rolled cake on a wire cake rack for 5 minutes then carefully unrolled the cake and allow it to cool at room temperature.

Chocolate Cream
Ingredients:
125ml Whipped Cream
30g Dark Chocolate, melted
15ml Milk

Methods:
1. Mix the milk with melted chocolate until well blended.
2. Add it into the whipped cream, stir until well combined then spread it on the Swiss roll and roll it up.
3. Place the roll, seam-side down on a tray and refrigerate covered for at least 30 minutes then spread the chocolate ganache.

Coffee Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
250ml Whipped Cream
1 - 1.5 Teaspoon Coffee Essence

Methods:
1. Whipped the cream until soft peak form then add in the coffee essence and continue to beat until stiff peak form.
2. Cut the Swiss roll to assemble it into a log then spread the cream thickly onto it.
3. Mark with the prongs of a fork to resemble barks.
4. Next add in some Christmas Decorations and dust with a little snow powder.

Notes: You can used any type of favour for essence like Rum, Brandy or etc

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Had wanted to try baking these colourful and interesting Christmas Gingerbread Cookies for very long time. After sourcing the Christmas Cookie Cutters, we managed to give it a try today......and it's really fun in making it.......


Ingredients:
125g Butter
100g Brown Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
375g Plain Flour
1 Teaspoon Bicarbonate Of Soda
1.5 Teaspoons Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
125ml Golden Syrup

Methods On Gingerbread Man:
1. Sift all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and set aside for later used.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in egg yolk, beat well.
3. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients and golden syrup, mix well.
4. Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth; cover, refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Roll dough between sheets of baking paper until 4mm think, cut out cookies using specially shaped cutter.
6. Lift carefully on to lightly greased oven trays. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes; cool on trays.
7. When cold, decorate biscuits with coloured royal icing fill it into a small plastic bag and snip off the corner so that it makes a piping bag.
8. Pipe mouth and features on to gingerbread men with the royal icing and other cookies then decorate with colourful bits.



Decoration Bits:
Chocolate Rice
Thousands and one
Rainbow Rice
Royal Icing:
1½ Cups Pure Icing Sugar
1 Egg White
2 To 4 Drops Lemon Juice

Methods:
1. Royal icing: Sift icing sugar. Beat egg white lightly in a small bowl, using a wooden spoon.
2. Add icing sugar one tablespoonful at a time, beating well after each addition. When icing reaches desired consistency, beat in lemon juice.
3. Amount of icing sugar required depends on size of egg white.

Lemon & Coffee Pork Chop

Saw this dish from a cookbook that I borrow from the library. So I just thought maybe can give it a try... see what's the taste of Lemon and Coffee together........


Ingredients:
500g Pork Chop Fillet, ard 8-10 pieces
2 Tablespoons White Sesame Seeds
1/2 to 3/4 Lemon Juice
1 Egg, beaten
Seasonings:
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Soya Sauce
1 Tablespoon Cornflour
Sauce:
1.5 Tablespoons Tomato Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder

Methods:
1. Wash the pork fillet, put in a bowl and pour in beaten egg and seasonings and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Wash and cut the lemon into halve then squeeze out the juice and set aside.
3. Preheat a pan and stir-fry the sesame seeds until fragrant or abit golden brown then dish up and set aside.
4. Preheat oil then deep-fry pork fillet until golden brown and drained.
5. Heat up a pan with 1 tablespoon oil, add in Tomato sauce and stir till fragrant then add in the rest of the sauce ingredients and lemon juice, stir till well combined.
6. When the sauce boiled, add in pork fillet, simmer in low heat until all sauce dry up then sprinkler the white sesame seeds.

Steam Cod Fillet With Mushroom

Finally!!!! I had succeed in steaming a very easy and tasty Cod Fish Fillet. It's a very simple and delicious dish and you will sure love it. It's just taste like those restaurant style steam fish dish.


Ingredients:
1 Piece Of Cod Fish Fillet, about 300g
3-4 Fresh Mushrooms, cut into slices
3 Slices Ginger, finely shredded
1 Stalk Spring Onion, shredded
1 Red Chilly, deseed and shredded
Seasonings:
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Rice Wine

Methods:
1. Rinse cod fillet, place on plate, coat evenly with salt and rice wine then marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Rinse mushroom and remove stems, blanch in hot water, removed and dry.
3. Place some spring onion on the place, then top with the fish and arrange the mushroom on the size of the fillet, put into steamer and steam for about 10 minutes.(the timing depend on the size and thickness of the fillet, it might required more or less than 10 minutes)
4. Top some spring onion on the cooked fish, preheat a small pan with 1 tablespoon of oil.
5. Add in the shredded ginger and chillies in it and stir till fragrant then drizzle over the spring onion on the fish and serve.

You can also stir-fry a restaurant style Broccoli Dish by adding some Fresh Prawns, Mushrooms and Nuts. The purpose of adding Nuts is to make the dish more crunchy and give it a nutty favour. You can used those small packet of roasted cashew nuts. Add it in on the very last then thicken the sauce and serve.

Steam Luo Han Guo Chicken

Saw this recipe from one of the TV show on 纵横中医三. In one part of the program, it do teach on how to use Chinese herbs to whip up some simple and delicious dish. So upon seeing the introduction of this dish, I decided to give it a try. It said that actually 罗汉果: Tastes sweet and of cool nature, it clears Heat, treats coughing and nourishes the intestine. While 玉竹: Nourishes Ying, moistens internal Dryness, stimulates silva and quenches thirst. It heals coughing, treats bothersome thirsty, clears the internal Heat that harms Ying as well as Dryness and pain the throat.

So why not, give this dish a try. It's a very delicious and simple dish.


Ingredients:
1 Small Chicken, abt 1-1.2kg
2 Luo Han Guo(罗汉果 ), removed shell
8 Red Dates(红枣)
2 Honey Dates(密枣)
4 Stalks Dang Sheng(当参), cut into slices
1/2 Tablespoon Gou Ji Zi(杞子)
10-15g Yu Zhu(玉竹)
1 Tablespoon Honey
Few Stalks Spring Onion
Garnish & Sauce:
2 Slices Ginger, shredded
1 Stalk Spring Onion, shredded
1 Chilly, deseed and shredded
1/2 Cup Water or Chicken Stock
1 1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour Water

Methods:
1. Wash, removed any extra fat and pat dry the chicken then set aside for later use.
2. Rinse all the dry herb ingredients except Luo Han Guo then stuff all the ingredients into the stomach of the chicken.(If can't stuff all just spread some outside the chicken)
3. Rub the outer skin of the chicken with honey to keep it moist while steaming.
4. Put a few stalks of spring onion on the foil and place the chicken on top of it.
5. Wrap the chicken tightly and steam over medium heat for about 1 hour to 1.5 hour depend on the size of the chicken.
6. Remove the chicken and cut it into smaller pieces or half.
7. Preheat a pan with 1 teaspoon of oil then add in ginger and chilly, stir-fry it till fragrant.
8. Pour in 1/2 chicken stock then follow by the sauce from the steam chicken.
9. When the mixture come to boil, add in the cornflour water to thicken the sauce.
10. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with some spring onion and served with rice.

Notes:
I used those electric steamer and I steam it for about 1.5 hrs.

The taste of the chicken is sort of like the Luo Han Guo herbal tea, very nice and refreshing.

Pumpkin & Chicken Cutlet Rice

Pumpkin & Chicken Cutlet Rice is a combination of two dishes into one. The Rice is cooked with diced pumpkins and chicken stock which can be consider as one rice dish by itself. The other one is the Chicken Cutlet and Pumpkin Mushroom Tempura. It's a rather unique taste for the rice as the pumpkin will be soft and sweet while the rice taste abit salty because of the chicken stock so.... Together with the fried chicken cutlet and vegetable tempura......How you will image the combination of all favours.




Pumpkins Rice
Ingredients: (serves 2)
6-8 Pumpkins Cubes, about 2cm
1 Cup uncooked Rice
1 Cup Chicken Stock

Methods:
1. Wash and soak the rice with chicken stock plus water to cook the rice.
2. Let it soak for about 1-2 hours then cook accordingly until well done. After the rice is cooked, let it stand in the pot for at least 15 minutes before serving. (This is to let the rice cool down abit and absorb a better favour)

Chicken Cutlets
Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Chicken Tight drumsticks, debone
Dash of pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1 Egg, lightly beat
2 Tablespoons Cornflour
2 Tablespoons Dried Breadcrumbs

Methods:
1. Wash and remove the skin of the drumsticks then pat dry and add in the pepper, soy sauce and cooking wine. Rub well and marinated for about 15-30 minutes in the fridge.
2. To fry the cutlet, preheat the oil then coat 1 of the chicken drumsticks with cornflour, then beaten egg and follow by the breadcrumbs.
3. The oil should not be too oil when deep-frying or else the outer layer will be burnt and the chicken will not be cooked.
4. Fried each side for about 2 -3 minutes until golden brown in medium heat then 30 seconds on High heat to force out the extra oil in the cutlets.
5. Remove and set aside to the drained the oil before cutting it into slices and placed on top of the pumpkin rice.

Note: To make the vegetable tempura, just used the pre-packed tempura flour mixture and follow the instruction given.

Bought this tray which consists of 3 divider in one of the shop because I found it very useful when come to frying stuffs using flour, egg and crumbs. At least I do not need to wash 3 plates......

Egg Wrap Rice

Although I had a lot of varieties of cookbooks in my collection but sometime I really too lazy to follow those steps to whip up a meal. So today I decided to make something simple and delicious which is called the "Egg Wrap Rice". You can wrap any kind of rice in it for eg: Curry Rice, Fried Rice or even just Plain Rice.

What I did is to wrap some Rice and Stir-fry Minced Pork with Onion and Mushroom then served with some tomatoes and cucumber salad. It's very easy to prepare and all you need is to plate them up in a presentable outlook.

Claypot Chicken & Sausage Rice

Last few days, I just bought a book that consists 38 Recipes on Claypot Rice. Some are really very easy to make and all you need to do is just cooked the rice and lay all the prepared ingredients on top then cover and braised over low heat for a few minutes. The leave it on the stove covered for 15 minutes and you can have all sort of claypot rice that you like within 30 minutes of prepared and cook time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Cup Uncooked Rice
1 Pair of Chinese Sausage
4-5 Chicken Wings
3 Medium Fresh Mushroom, cut into thin slices
1 Stalk Spring Onion, cut into 5cm long
2 Slices Of Ginger
1/4 Broccoli, cut into florets
Seasonings:
1/2 Tablespoons Cornflour
2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
Suitable Amount Of Pepper
Claypot Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Warm Water
1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Chicken Powder Stock

Methods:
1. Wash the rice and and soak with suitable amount of water to cook the rice in a claypot for at least 1 hour.
2. Wash the chicken wings, and cut it into smaller portion then marinate it with seasonings , some spring onion and ginger. Set aside in the fridge for later use.
3. Remove the outer skin of the Chinese sausage then cut it into thin slices and set aside.
4. Cook the soaked rice on high heat uncovered until the water is almost dry up then place the chicken pieces on top of the rice, follow by the remaining spring onion, Chinese sausage and mushroom.
5. Next drizzle some oil onto the size of the claypot into the rice, covered and cook over low heat for 3 minutes.
6. Next mix well the claypot sauce and drizzle it slowly on top of the chicken mixture then covered and cook over medium heat for another 2 minutes.
7. Switch off the heat and covered and let it braised for another 15 minutes then arrange the broccoli on top and served.
8. Boil a pot of water with 1 teaspoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and sugar then add in the broccoli and blanch for 1-2 minutes, dished up and drained well.



Notes:
You can used any parts of the chicken instead of chicken wings.
You can replaced Broccoli with any type of green vegetables of your preference.

Stew Papaya & Peanuts Soup

Tried this soup twice before and find it very smoothing and nice to drink. According to the recipe this soup contains protein, minerals, vitamin A, B and C. It improves skin texture; heals coughing; expels sputum; improves eyesight; clears Heat inside the body; cleanse the digestive system and soothes constipation. So give this soup a try if have any digestive problems or etc.


Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
1 Medium Papaya, 木瓜
12 Red Dates, 红枣
6 Dried Figs, 无花果
150g Peanuts, 煮汤花生
10g Dried Lily Bulbs ,干百合
1 Piece Dried Tangerine Peel, 陈皮
1.5 Litre Water

Methods:
1. Wash and cut the papaya into wedges.
2. Wash and stone red dates then slice dried figs.
3. Soak dried tangerine peel till soft, then scrape off the pith.
4. Put all ingredients and water in a pot and bring to boil then transfer to a slow-cooker and stew for about 2-3 hours.

Chocolate Chips & Almond Cookies

Very tempting to try out this so call similar to Famous Amos Cookies from the M4M website. Thank one of the person there who is really to share his recipe and all the guidance for making this wonder cookies. It's rather easy and simple to make but you need to have a few ingredients on hand. And since I had already grated the Gula Melaka inside the fridge I might as well get it done faster. I replace the chocolate chip and nuts to 1 whole block of Cadbury Almond Chocolate because I happened to run out of chocolate chip and I can't find Macadamia nuts around think is out of stock. You should really go and try this recipe out if you are a fan of Famous Amos Cookies.


Ingredients: (make about 60 50 cent coins cookies)
Item A: Process/Rub the following together thoroughly
175g Self-raising Flour
50g Rice Flour
25ml Corn Oil
Item B: Cream Till Fluffy
100g Unsalted Butter, cut into small cubes
50g Light Brown Sugar
50g Gula Melaka( finely minced/grated )
75g Castor Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Kuhlua
Item C: Whisk In
50g Milk Powder
1/2 Egg
Item D: Stir In
125g chopped nuts
200g chocolate chips
Flour Mixture

Methods:
1. Cream butter and all the sugars until combine then add in the rest of Item B and continue until light and fluffy.
2. Next whisk Item C till combined then stir in Item D and Flour Mixutre.
3. Leave the overall mixture cover in the frige for about 20-30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 170 degree and shape the cookie dough on a tray lined with baking paper.
5. Try to leave some spaces between each cookies so that their won't stick together during baking.
6. Baked for 15 - 20 mins or until golden brown, remove from tray and cool on baking rack.



Notes: The cookies will feel soft when removing from the oven, don't worry about it. Just leave it on the rack to cook to room temperature and they will be crispy.

I don't have rum, brandy nor whisky at home so I replace it with Kuhlua(coffee liquor)

Steam Seabream With Mushroom

I had being searching around to see how does a Seabream look like because I had never bought a seabream before. From a book it says that Seabream contains much protein and it cures Asthenia, benefits the digestive system and the skin. And eating this steam seabream with mushroom regulary makes your skin glow with natural sheen. Whether is true or not, steam meal is usually better than those fried stuff.... so you might want to give it a try.


Ingredients:
I Medium Size Seabream
1 Pack of Shemiji Mushrooms
3 Slices Of Ginger, shredded
1 Stalk Spring Onion, cut into 5cm long
Drizzle Of Sesame Oil
Seasonings:
1 Tablespoon Of Fermented Soy Bean
2 Tablespoon Water/Rice Wine
Dash Of Pepper
1 Teaspoon Cornflour
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soya Sauce

Methods:
1. Cut the ends of the mushroom's stems. Rinse and drain.
2. Rinse the fish, wipe dry and arrange on plate.
3. Combine all seasonings and mixed well then pour on top of the fish.
4. Put shredded ginger, some spring onion and mushrooms on top of the fish then drizzle some sesame oil.
5. Steam over high heat for 8-10 minutes(depend on the size of the fish).
6. Garnish with remaining spring onion and served while hot.

Almond, Sea Coconut And Pumpkin Soup

When you first taste this soup, you will thought that you are drinking Red Bean Soup.... Because they do have the similar taste. I think maybe is the Dried Tangerine Peel and Dried Lily. This soup actually promote circulation of Qi, expel septum and aids digestion. The Sweet and Bitter Almonds also clears the Heat, Moistens internal Dryness and avoids coughing. It's a very good sweet soup after dinner to smooth your throat. Do consider and give it a try.... I bet you will sure find it delicious.


Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
8g Sweet Almonds, 南杏
12 Bitter Almonds, 北杏
500g Pumpkin
38g Dried Lily Bulbs, 百合
5 Pieces of Sea Coconut, 海底椰
225g-250g Lean Pork
3-4 Candied Dates,蜜枣
1 Small Piece Dried Tangerine Peel,陈皮

Methods:
1. Peel and seed pumpkin then wash and cut into thick slices.
2. Wash and removed the outer shell of the sea coconut then cut into thick slices.
3. Wash dried lily bulbs, candied dates, almonds and set aside for later use.
4. Soak dried tangerine peel until tender then scrap off the white pith.
5. Wash and scald the lean pork in boiling water.
6. Bring suitable amount of water(700-800ml) to boil, then add in all ingredients and bring to boil again.
7. Transfer to slow cooker and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours then served.

Chicken & Sea Coconut Soup

Actually wanted to cook this soup for quite sometime but it's sort of difficult to get hold of the raw Sea Coconut. From what I had read from books, Sea Coconut expels sputum, heals coughing, reduces night-time urination as well as nourishes the lungs and skin. It makes a refreshing, fragrant soup together with red dates and chicken.


Ingredients:
6 Pieces Sea Coconuts, 200g
1/2 Chicken, skin removed
10 Red Dates, stoned
1 Litre Water

Methods:
1. Wash chicken and remove the lungs, scald and rinse in cold water.
2. Peel the outer coat of sea coconut. Stone red dates, put both in a pot and add water.
3. Bring water to the boil, put chicken in a pot and wait for the soup to boil again.
4. Once the soup is boils, transfer to a slow cooker and put on auto mode or low heat and simmer for 3 hours.
5. Sprinkle salt to season.

Detoxifies Soup

These days weather is pretty bad, either rainy or sunshine day. So in order to keep healthy, I come up with a new meal that we would include at least 3 - 4 of these Detocifies Soup in our dinner. In short, soup is like the rain after draught for your skin so you should have some in a week. Loofah(丝瓜) is rich in vitamins B and C. It also clears Heat, Detoxifies, promotes blood circulation and prevents skin aging. This soup whitens the skin and improves wrinkles and prevents freckles.


Asparagus goes well with Mushroom and Oyster Sauce. And it's also much cheaper to cook it at home that having it outside the restaurant. I remember I having this dish last week at a Thai Restaurant and it's cost about $10 for that. But If I prepare it myself, it cost about $3.50 for the Australia Asparagus and $1 for the Fresh Mushroom... so after all it's still much more cheaper and bigger serving.



Ingredients:
1 Medium Loofah(丝瓜), cut into thick cubes
150g Sheng Yu Fillet, cut into strips
1 Packet of Enokitake Mushroom(金针菇)
5-6 Small Dried Scallops(干贝)
4 Dried Mussels(干淡菜)
1 Packet Of Soup Doufu, cut into cubes
300ml Pre-packed Chicken Stock
700ml Water

Methods:
1. Soak the Dried Mussels and Scallops in hot water for about 15 minutes, drained and set aside.
2. Rinse the fish fillet, slice and marinate with some pepper and light soy sauce then set aside for use.
3. Rinse the loofah, remove the skins and slice into big cubes.
4. Cut the end section off the enokitake mushrooms. Tear into small bunches. Rinse and drain.
5. Bring the water to boil then add in the Dried Mussels and Scallop and simmer for about 20 minutes then add in the loofah and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Next add in the fish and doufu, when the fish is almost cooked, add in the enokitake mushroom and switch off the heat when it come to boil.

Notes:
You do not need to season the soup as it's already full of favour.

You can replace the 300ml of chicken stock to 300ml of water as well. But then you will need to season the soup with a bit of salt.