Sardines Squares (Collaboration with Ayam brand)

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of ready instant puff pastry (bought from supermarkets) 
• 1/2 medium-size yellow onion (finely-diced) 
• 3 cloves of garlic (minced) 
• 1 medium size tomato (finely-diced) 
• 1 can of Ayam Brand Sardines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• 5 tbsps of tomato paste (can replace by ketchup) 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mirin ( can replace by sugar) 
• 1 tsp oyster sauce 
• Dash of pepper 
• Egg wash - 1/2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 tbsp water 
• Optional: Garnish with parsley leaves or mayonnaise on top 

Method:

1. Heat pan. Pour olive oil from Ayam Brand can sardines into pan. 
2. Once heated, add finely-diced onions and minced garlic. 
3. Sauté over low heat about 3 mins till fragrant. 
4. Add finely-diced tomatoes and cook for a minute. 
5. Add tomato paste and mixed well. 
6. Add seasonings, salt, sugar/mirin, oyster sauce and pepper. (Adjust taste accordingly) 
7. Add sardines from can. Use spatula to break sardines into smaller pieces (about an inch). 
8. Mixed well with sauce. Simmer till sauce slightly thickens. Off heat and set aside to cool. 
9. Preheat over at 200 degrees. (Lower to 190 degrees if your oven’s temp is higher). . 
10. Prepare egg wash. 
11. Remove instant puff-pastry from freezer. Sliced into 12 squares. You can sliced it smaller and make it mini bite-size. 
12. Placed on baking tray lined with baked paper. 
13. Used a brush to apply egg-wash on each squares. Scoop a spoon of sardines mix in the middle of each square. Baked in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes till pastry puffs up and brown. 
14. Remove from oven. Garnish with parsley leaves or top with mayonnaise and serve. 

Note: For spicy version, add finely chopped chili or chili padi when cooking the sardines. 

Poached Chicken rice (白斩鸡饭)

Instructions: 

1. Clean the chicken by rubbing some salt all over it and inside the cavity. Rinse and set aside. Rub a tsp of salt lightly on chicken and inside cavity.  Then stuff some garlic, spring onion, some ginger into cavity. 
2. Boil about half pot of water. Add garlic, ginger, spring onion, coriander stalk with stem , Shaoxing wine into pot. Bring it to a boil. Hold chicken by the neck and dip into the boiling water up and down many times before submerging it in water. 
3. When the water starts to bubble and simmer, lower heat and cover to simmer chicken for around 20 min, depending on how big the chicken is. 
4. Off the fire after 20min and cover the lid and let the chicken stay for around 20 to 25 minutes. 
5. Transfer the chicken out and soak it with iced bath. Turn over several times or until the chicken is cooled down. Remove and Drizzle some sesame oil on chicken. Chop chicken into pieces when it is completely cooled down.  

Sauce: 

• Use 1 cup of chicken stock from poaching chicken , add light soya sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil, mix well. 
• Use a small saucepan to lightly boil it and pour over chopped chicken. (I didn't measure so pls adjust accordingly to your taste). 
• Drizzle a tbsp of garlic oil over chicken and topped with crispy fried garlic and coriander. 

Chicken rice: 

• I cooked 2.5 cups of jasmine rice. Add 2.5 cups of chicken stock from poaching chicken to the rice. Add 5 slices of ginger , 8 cloves of garlic (smashed), 4 Pandan leaves (washed n tie in a knot) and 1 tbsp of salt. Add also about 2.5 tbsps of chicken oil to rice (by rendering chicken oil from chicken skin, it’ll makes the rice smells heavenly!) If you don’t have chicken oil, can also use garlic or shallot infused oil to fragrant rice or you can leave it as it is. 
• On rice cooker to cook as normal. When rice is cooked, wait for 5 mins before opening up to fluff the rice. 

Note: Alternatively, you can use a packet of Prima hainanese chicken rice mix, mix well with rice, if you find it troublesome to prepare the fragrant oil. 

Steamed Prawns with tanghoon 🦐🦐🦐

Ingredients:

• 10-12 medium-size Sea prawns (I removed the shells and intestine but left the head and tail intact) 
• About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of softened tanghoon (estimated) 
• 1 tsp ginger juice 
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce 
• A handful of coriander /spring onion 

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1 tbsp mirin 
• 4 tbsp homemade chicken stock 

Method:

1. Clean prawns. Removed shells and intestines but leave head and tails intact. Add ginger juice and fish sauce to prawns. Mix well and set aside. 
2. Soak tanghoon beforehand. 
3. Preapare sauce in a bowl. Add tanghoon and mix well. 
4. Place tanghoon on steam plate. Steamed for about 3mins. 
5. Add prawns on top of tanghoon. Then steam for another 2-3 minutes or till prawns are cooked. 
6. Remove from steamer. Top with coriander or spring onion. 
7. Heat up about 1tbsp of oil in a small saucepan till smoking hot. Drizzle on top and Serve hot. 

Note: You can choose to use store-bought chicken stock. And if you do, please reduce light soya sauce to 1/2 tbsp.

Fried Chicken Wings🐔

Ingredients: 

• 1kg of chicken midwings, put a tbsp of salt to rub, then rinsed and pat dry
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cornstarch 
• 1/2 tbsp rice flour 
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• oil, for frying 

Instructions: 

1. Combine all the sauces (except the frying oil) in a large mixing bowl. Mix well and add chickeb mid-wings. Use hands to massage wings and ensure wings are well-coated. Let the wings marinate for at least or in the refrigerator overnight for best results. (If you refrigerate the wings, be sure to let them come to room temperature again before cooking).
2. Before frying, be sure to mix eings thoroughly again. The wings should be well coated with a thin batter-like coating. If it still looks too watery, add a bit more corn starch and flour.
3. Fill a medium pot with oil, enough to cover eings during frying. Heat is about 165 deg. You can use a chopsticks to test the oil. Oil is ready when there’re many bubbles around the chopsticks. 
4. Fry the wings in small batches for 5 minutes and remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels. After all of the wings are fried, return them in batches to the oil and fry again for 3 minutes. Double frying will ensure wings to become crispy. Drain on paper towels or a cooling rack and serve hot. 

Steamed Pork Ribs

Ingredients: 

• 500g Prime Pork Ribs (chopped to an inch long) 
• 5 cloves of garlic (minced) 
• 1 chili (remove seeds and sliced. Optional) 
• 1 stalk of coriander leaves (garnishing) 

Marination: 

• 2 tbsps dark soya sauce (Bao bao brand) 
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce (Da Hua brand) 
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce 
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp ginger juice 
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp white pepper 
• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine 
• 1 tbsp corn flour/ tapioca flour 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda (optional) 

Method: 

1. Mixed sauces for marination in a bowl. Add pork ribs and mix well with sauces. I used hand to massage the sauces with the ribs to ensure that it’s well coated and combine. Add corn flour and mix well. Add minced garlic and mix well. Set aside to marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight. 
2. Remove pork from fridge about 30mins before steaming. Place cooking paper (those that can use for steaming and baking) on a plate. Transfer the pork ribs into the centre of the plate with all the sauces. You can add sliced chili at this stage if you like. 
3. Wrap up the ribs into a parcel and use a string (twine) to tie and secure it. 
4. Steamed at high heat for about 45mins. Garnish with sliced chili and coriander before serving. 

Double-boiled Herbal Duck soup

{Collaboration}  

Jiak bor liao! 😄Not been in the best of health for past few months and need to take more herbs and tonic (补血)! 😉😉 Huiji Waist Tonic is made with 6 different kinds of premium-quality herbs: Cordyceps, Ginseng, Du Zhong, Dang Gui, Shou Wu and Da Zao. It has no alcohol content, added sugar, honey or thickening agents, and suitable for vegetarians. 

Every bottle of Huiji Waist Tonic contains a high content of herbs, making it a convenient alternative to herbs when preparing herbal dishes. For a more robust taste, the tip is to add the waist tonic just before serving.

More info: https://www.huiji.com.sg/en/product/huiji-waist-tonic/ 

#HuijiWaistTonic

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 of a whole duck (cut into pieces) 
• 5 pieces of red dates 
• 2 slices of ginger 
• A handful of wolfberries 
• 1/2 cup of Huiji waist Tonic 
• 1 cup of hot water 
• A pinch of sea salt 

Method: 

1. Blanched duck pieces. Rinse and set aside. 
2. Placed blanched duck into small porcelain bowl. Add ginger, rinsed red dates and wolfberries into bowl. Add hot water. 
3. Boil a pot of water. Once water boils, Place porcelain bowl with cover. (You can use another plate to cover if porcelain bowl doesn’t come with cover.) Double-boil soup for about 45mins. Add Huiji Waist Tonic and continue to boil for another 30mins. Add a pinch of salt and serve hot. 

Braised Yee Fu Noodles with straw mushrooms and chicken

Ingredients: 

• 1 packet of Yee Fu noodles (bought from ntuc) 
• 1 can of straw mushrooms (discard water and sliced into half or quarters) 
• 1 pieces of boneless chicken leg 
• 4 stalks of spring onion (sliced to 3cm long, separate white and green part) 
• 3 cloves of garlic (minced) 
• 1 1/2 cup of homemade chicken stock 

Seasonings: 

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp light soya sauce 
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp sesame oil 
• Dash of pepper 
• 1 tbsp cooking wine 
• Dash of fish sauce 

Directions: 

1. Remove skin of chicken leg. Sliced into smaller pieces. Marinate with a tsp of light soya sauce, sesame oil and ginger juice. Set aside. 
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanched Yee Fu noodles for about 2 mins. Drained in colander and set aside. 
3. Heat wok with 2 tbsps of oil. Add marinated chicken. Stirfry till chicken is no longer pink. Set aside. 
4. Add another tbsp of oil. Add minced garlic and sauté till fragrant. Add straw mushrooms and give it a quick Stirfry. 
5. Add seasonings and mix evenly (except cooking wine and fish sauce). You can mix the seasonings in a bowl beforehand so that it’ll speed up the process. 
6. Add chicken stock and chicken. Bring to a simmer. Add blanched noodles and mix well. Add white part of spring onion. Stir and ensure noodles are well coated with sauce. 
7. Drizzle fish sauce and cooking winealong the side of the wok. Add green part of spring onion. Mixed well and cook till sauce reduce but not dry. You can add more chicken stock if you find it dry. Adjust taste accordingly. Off heat and served hot with green chili. 😋