Ginseng Steamed Prawns 🦐 {Collaboration with Huiji)

{Collaboration with Huiji}
“ Quick and fast” Ginseng Steamed Prawns 🦐

Using Huiji Canadian Ginseng Revitalizing Tea to do a quick and fast steamed prawn dish after rushing back home from whole day’s PSG meeting 😅! Created this dish for hubby’s sisters and myself as we have been so busy with work 😉

Huiji Canadian Revitalizing Tea is good for whole family, of which it can help reduce body heat, in Singapore where it is hot and humid! It also can improve energy level, so it’s beneficial to those who stayed up late, super busy at work or kids’ exam period. Made with 100% Canadian ginseng and it’s a healthier choice as it contains no sugar.
#huiji

Ingredients:

• 500g medium-size sea prawns 
• 1 packet Huiji Canadian Ginseng Revitalizing Tea
• 2 pieces Yan rhizome (山药) 
• 3 pieces Yuzhu (玉竹)
• 1 cup water (240ml) 
• 1 tbsp wolf berries 
• 4 slices ginger
• Seasonings: 1 tbsp Huadiao wine, 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, a pinch of salt. 

Method:

1. In a cup/bowl, soak Huiji Canadian Ginseng Revitalizing Tea, Yan rhizome and Yuzhu in hot water. Set aside till water is cooled. (Remember to give the greats a quick rinse before adding water.) 
2. Placed prawns in a heat-proofed bowl. Pour the cooled herbal broth onto prawns. Add ginger slices, wolf berries. Add seasonings. 
3. Steam prawns for about 5-6 minutes, covered with baking/cooking paper. 
4. Served hot. 

Traditional Hokkien Bak Zang (传统福建粽子)

Making bak zang has been my family tradition for many many years. My mother insisted my two sisters and I, to learn this skill since we were in primary school! We started making small tiny gee zangs (碱水粽) when we were young and progressed to making bak zangs (bui ba and cui ba). Since then, we have not stopped making them as family and friends loves them. The taste is made to suit our family. We omitted five-spice powder as my late Ah ma didn’t like it. I am penning this recipe so as to ensure that this will be pass down to whoever is interested in this as my mother is getting on her years. To make bak zangs, the preparations starts 2-3 days before, and every year, we make about 10kg of rice and more than 250 bak zangs!

These ingredients are flexible and you can change to cater to your taste. I don’t have the exact measurements of the ingredients and sauces as my mother will add based on her gut feel. Please trial and error and adjust accordingly to your taste. This recipe is more for documenting down the steps involved.

Preparation of bak zang leaves n strings:
Soak dry bak zang leaves overnight. Wash and rinsed each piece of leaves using a cloth to remove dirt. Change to fresh pail of water if it’s very dirty. Set aside when leaves are all cleaned by soaking in fresh pail of clean water. As for strings, we prefer to use the traditional strings for bak zang, rather than raffia strings as the colorings from the strings will dissolved during cooking which is unhealthy.

Preparation of ingredients:

• Blanched pork belly (三层肉) to remove blood and allow it to cooled. Sliced into smaller pieces (about a inch thick). Marinate with some dark soya sauce overnight. 
• Prepare pork lard oil the night before.
• Mushrooms to soak the night before and reserve the soaking water. Marinate mushrooms with 1-2 tbsps of dark soya sauce about an hour before stir frying. 
• Chestnuts/gao luk (wash and soak with hot water). Boil chestnuts. Deshell when cooled the night before.  
• Dry oysters (rinsed and soak)
• Dry shrimps/haebi (rinsed and soak with warm water. Reserve soaking water)
• Lots of garlic, peeled and lightly smashed 
• Few bunches of pandan leaves 

Stir fry ingredients before wrapping: 

1. Heat wok with 2 tbsps of pork lard oil. Add 8-10 cloves of smashed garlic and sauté till fragrant. Add 2 tbsps of dark soya sauce (大华牌) and let it caramelized. Add marinated pork belly and stir fry. Add dashes of white pepper, salt and oyster sauce. Add in some water from soaking shrimps and mushrooms and simmer pork belly for about 5 mins. Off heat and set aside.
2. Heat wok with 2 tbsps of pork lard oil. Add some cloves of smashed garlic and sauté till fragrant. Add about a tbsp of dark soya sauce to caramelize. Add marinated mushrooms. Add a dash of pepper and salt and stir fry for few mins till mushrooms are coated with sauce. Off heat and set aside. 
3. ** Repeat the same for other ingredients; chestnuts, dry oysters and stumps. 
4. Wash and rinse glutinous rice well and set aside. Heat wok with some pork lard oil and add cloves of smashed garlic. Add 2 tbsps of dark soya sauce and let it caramelized. Add rinsed glutinous rice and stir fry to mix well for two mins. Add some salt, pepper and 1-2 tbsps more dark soya sauce (not too much, it’s more for adding color to rice). Off heat after rice is well mixed. 
5. Start to wrap when all ingredients are ready. Put rice at bottom of leaves. Then some of each ingredients. Top with rice again and wrap. Try not to stuff too much rice as rice will expand once it’s cooked. And my advise is not to wrap dumplings too tight since rice will expand and it will not maintain the shape you wrapped when it’s too tight. It will also risk of dumplings bursting during cooking when it’s too tight. 
6. In the meantime, prepare a big pot of water to cook the dumplings. We used the traditional way which is using charcoal. You can also cook the dumplings using stove. 
7. Add 2-3 bunches of washed pandan leaves to big pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add about 1-2 tbsps of salt. Tie individual bunches of dumplings together and lower to hot boiling water. Boil dumplings in water for about 2 hours till it’s cooked. Once cooked, remove dumplings and hang  on a hook and let it drip dry. 

Hope you understand the recipe. Not sure if you know how to wrap the dumplings ? 😊 
I made a simple video of me 
https://www.facebook.com/quek.bin.1/videos/10209480118535548/

Coconut Bunnies Agar Agar (Collaboration with Ayam Brand)

[Contest] Coconut Bunnies Agar Agar for Ah Bu’s belated birthday celebration 🎂
Didn’t celebrate my mum’s birthday, which was 2 weeks back as the kids were all having their examinations. Today we’re having a belated birthday celebration for her and made these bunnies agar agar with Ayam Brand coconut milk to give her a surprise! ☺️☺️ My ah bu is an expert in agar agar and she used to make these for our birthdays! First attempt on making these and based on my memory of how she made these before. 😅 hope she’ll like it!
#ayambrandcoconutmilk

Note: 
You will need 2 bunny mould and 2 heat-proof containers for grass and flowers.

Ingredient A (for bunnies' eyes, flowers and grass): 

• 300ml water 
• 2 pandan leaves (washed and tied into knots) 
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
• 0.5 tbsp agar agar powder

Ingredient B (for bunnies' bodies): 

• 660ml Ayam Brand Super Light Coconut water (2 packets)
• 2 tbsp agar agar powder
• 3 tbsp sugar (2.5 tbsp for less sweet) 
• 2 pandan leaves (washed and tied into knots) 

Instructions: 

1. Prepare the ingredients A first. Boil water in a small pot with pandan leaves. 
2. Once boiling, add sugar and agar agar powder. 
3. Lower to a simmer and dissolved the powder and sugar. Off heat. 
4. Scoop 2 tbsp agar agar water into small bowl. Add about 2 drops of red colouring and mix well for the bunnies' eyes. Use a tiny spoon and add to eyes of bunnies. Do for one eye first and allow it to set before doing the other eyes. Challenge here is to do fast as the agar agar mixture will solidify once it cools. You can heat up the mixture if it started to harden. 
5. Divide the rest of the agar agar mixture into 2 heat-proof containers. Add green and orange colours into mixture for the flowers and grass. Mix well and allow mixture to cool down and solidify. 
6. Chill in fridge after agar agar is set. 
7. Prepare ingredients B. Add Ayam Brand coconut milk, pandan leaves, sugar and agar agar powder into a pot. Heat pot with medium heat. Stir and ensure powder and sugar dissolve completely. Allow coconut mixture to come to a gentle boil and simmer for 5 mins after it boils. Off heat. Wait for coconut mixture to cool down till its warm but not solidify yet. The reason for this is, if you pour the hot coconut mixture into mould, the agar agar for bunnies' eyes will melt from the heat. Once mixture is cooled enough, pour into mould and allow it to cooled further till it solidify and chill in fridge. 
8. Remove green agar agar from container about an hour later and use a grater to shred into smaller pieces to make the grass patch. 
9. Remove orange agar agar from container and use a cookie cutter to make flowers for the grass patch. 
10. Assemble: gently remove bunnies from mould and place on plate. Add grass patch and flowers around the bunnies. Served cold from fridge. 

Sliced Fish Beehoon Soup 🍜 (Collaboration)

Ingredients for soup stock:

• 1 fish head (cut half) or fish bones (at least 800g) 
• 1 cup of ikan bilis 
• 3/4 cup of yellow beans (rinsed and soak for 15mins) 
• 6-8 cloves of garlic (rinsed and smashed) 
• A thumb-size ginger (rinsed and sliced to thick pieces) 
• 3 stalks of spring onion
• 3 pieces of dried sole fish (鳊鱼)
• 1 pot of boiling hot water (about 2 liters) 

Method: 

1. Rinsed and pat dry sole fish. Deep fry till crisp and set aside. Alternatively, you can use airfryer but make sure you oil spray fish. I made more of these the last time to keep whatever I want to cook soup. You can grind them to powder form when they cooled down too. 
2. Rinsed and pat dry fish head / bones. Your soup will be flavorful if you add enough bones. You can choose to Panfry Head/bones but I Airfried instead. 
3. Heat wok. Add 2tbsps of oil. Add ginger, garlic and ikan bilis. Sauté till fragrant. Pour hot boiling water into wok (be careful of the steam so pour slowly). Add fish head/bones, yellow beans, sole fish and spring onion. Let it boil over high heat for 20 mins and reduce to a simmer for about 1-1.5 hours. Sieve the soup when cooled and set aside. 

Ingredients (depends on your preferences) : 

• Red grouper slices (500g) 
• Crabsticks/ fishballs 
• Tomato wedges 
• Thick beehoon (Blanched with boiling water for 1-2minutes. Drained and add a tsp of garlic oil, mix well and set aside
• Tofu (cut into small pieces) 
• Lettuce 
• 2 beaten eggs for egg-floss 

Method (I cooked one person’s portion at a time) 

1. Marinate fish slices with some salt. Mix 1 tbsp of corn flour with 1.5tbsp water and add to fish. 
2. In a separate pot, heat up prepared soup stock. Once it’s boiling, add tofu, fish slices, Crabsticks and whatever ingredients you prepared. 
3. Add 1-2 tbsp of Marigold  King of Kings Full Cream Evaporated Milk. Add seasonings: 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp light soya sauce and some salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and add a dash of cooking wine (optional). 
4. Pour soup onto Blanched beehoon. Garnish with chopped spring onion, fried shallots and egg-floss. Served hot with cut chili padi. 

Recipe for egg-floss: 

Ingredients: 

• 1 egg and 2 egg yolks
• A pinch of salt and dash 1/4 tsp vinegar 
• Oil 

1. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the seasonings till the mixture is very runny.
2. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan/wok over low heat until very hot, or until plenty of smoke has risen.
3. Pour the egg mixture through a perforated ladle, from at least 10cm or more above the saucepan. Stir through the egg mixture with the same ladle to ensure that the egg does not curdle or stick to each other.
4. Deep fried until the egg turns light brown, switch off the heat. The egg will cook into thin threads. Allow the oil to continue to bubble in the saucepan till the egg threads turn golden brown. Remove the threads from the oil and drain well on paper towels.
5. Loosen the egg threads into a light, airy floss. Dish and serve.

Homemade Macaroni Stars ⭐️ (Collaboration)

My kids loves macaroni! 😄😄 Whose also? 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪

First try on making macaroni at home using San Remo Durum Wheat Semolina Flour 😁😁 Making these for a little toddler girl (nephew’s daughter) for her to try as her mummy hopes to feed her homemade macaroni instead of store-bought ones. Using a small star cutter to make these tiny star macaroni which saves time on shaping them! ☺️ hope little girl will like them! My kids were my taster and made simple Mac n cheese with these stars and they loves it!

Lucky Draw!!
[WIN!] Get a chance to WIN* $5,000 FairPrice Gift Vouchers if you purchase at least $3 worth of San Remo products in FairPrice between 5-30 April 2019! *Terms and conditions apply. Refer San Remo for more information! #SanRemoSG #SanRemoPasta #SanRemo

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of San Remo Durum Wheat Semolina Flour 
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour (and some extra flour for dusting) 
• 1/4 tsp of salt 
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 1 tbsp olive oil 

Method:

1. Combine sifted salt, semolina and all-purpose flour together in a large bowl. Use a fork to mix till it’s well combined.  
2. Create a well in the centre if the flour mixture. 
3. Pour beaten eggs and olive oil in the centre of flour mixture. Use the fork to whisk the egg mixture and slowly draw the flour and mix together with the eggs. Mixture will be thin at first but it will slowly thicken and begin to look like dough. Once it begins to look like a soft dough, transfer the dough on a clean surface, dusted with flour. 
4. Begin kneading the dough by folding it onto itself. Lift one side of the dough and fold towards the opposite side. After each fold, flatten the dough and repeat. This process will toughen up the dough. Sprinkle extra flour on the counter if the dough begins to stick to the surface. Continue to knead till the surface is smooth and resembles a plastic ball. 
5. Place dough in a clean bowl to rest. Cover the top of bowl with plastic wrap or plate. Allow it to rest for 30minutes. After it has rested, you can use the dough straightaway or refrigerate it for 24 hours. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before forming pasta. 
6. You can shape the dough into any shape or sizes you like. I used a mini star cutter to make the shape as it is faster this way. Roll flat and thin for half of the dough flat on clean, dusted surface. Cut out the shapes using cutters. Cook macaroni in a pot of salted boiling water for about 8-10 minutes or till it is cooked. Serve macaroni with soup, pasta sauce, carbonara or mixed with cheese and baked in airfryer or oven till cheese melted. 

Pizza With Mozzarella-stuffed crust {Collaboration}

My first time making pizza crust from scratch using San Remo Durum Wheat Semolina Flour! 😅 Semolina flour gives the crust a nutty, full-bodies richness, perfect with pizza, that calls for a tomato sauce. A request by my gal who’s a fanatic of 🍕 to try making cheese-stuffed crust pizzas 😅😅 Ah gal said she likes the crust as it tasted crispy on the outside and soft inside and cheese oozing out 😉

Lucky Draw!!
[WIN!] Get a chance to WIN* $5,000 FairPrice Gift Vouchers if you purchase at least $3 worth of San Remo products in FairPrice between 5-30 April 2019! *Terms and conditions apply. Refer San Remo for more information!

#SanRemoSG #SanRemoPasta #Sanremo

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of lukewarm water 
• 1.5 tsp active dry yeast 
• 1/2 tsp sugar 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup San Reno Durum Wheat semolina flour 
• 2 tbsp olive oil, additional for greasing bowl 

Method:

1. Pour water in a slightly warm, large bowl, or a warmed stand mixer bowl. Stir in the yeast, sugar and salt. Set aside until the yeast is bubbly and foamy, about 5 minutes. If the yeast does not proof, throw away the mixture. (Either the yeast is expired, or the water is too hot or too cold.) 
2. If using stand mixer, add both sifted flours and oil into yeast mixture, attach dough hook and stir at medium speed until mixture fairly well combined. Continue to knead at medium speed, till dough is smooth and elastic (about 7minutes). If the dough is sticky, add a little flour if needed. 
3. If using hand-knead, add both sifted flours and oil to yeast mixture and mix till fairly smooth. Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with all-purpose flour and empty dough on it. Knead by hand, and adding 1-2 tbsp of flour, should the dough gets sticky. Pull the dough with one hand and use the other hand fold and knead into the dough mass. Keep doing for about 8 minutes and work the dough till it’s smooth and elastic. 
4. Wipe a clean bowl with some olive oil using a kitchen towel. Transfer dough into greased bowl. Turn the dough around till all sides are coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap. 
5. Set the bowl in a warm area and allow it to proof till double its size (about 1.5 hours). 
6. After proofing, remove dough into a floured work surface. Shape into a ball. It can be rolled out and baked as desired. I split the dough into halves and rolled to thinner crust. Then I lined mozzarella strips around the sides of and gently wrapped them up all around. 
7. Baked the pizza in 200 degrees oven with your favorite toppings and sauce for about 20 minutes. (Oven temperatures vary for different ovens) 
8. For my pizza, I did the basic tomato sauce. Topping include button mushrooms, ham and can pineapples. 

Simple Egg Tofu with French Beans (Collaboration)

{Collaboration with Knorr Singapore}
Ingredients: 

• 2 tubes of egg tofu 
• 1 packet of French beans (about 20 pieces) 
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (minced) 
• 1 tbsp of Knorr SavorRich Chicken Concentrated Seasoning 
• 1 tbsp of light soya sauce 
• 3 tbsp of water 
• A pinch of sugar 

Method: 

1. Remove egg tofu from packaging by slicing into half horizontally. Sliced half again vertically. Placed on plate lined with kitchen towel to absorb moisture for 5 mins. 
2. Heat wok with some oil. Gently fried egg tofu till it’s brown. Set aside. 
3. Remove both ends of French beans. Wash and drain. Sliced French beans diagonally. 
4. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Add a tbsp of oil and a tsp of salt. Blanched French beans and set aside. 
5. Plate French beans on plate. Lay egg tofu on top. 
6. Heat up a small saucepan with 2 tbsps of oil. Add minced garlic and fry on medium heat till garlic is golden brown. Remove and set aside. 
7. Prepare sauce: Knorr SavorRich Chicken Concentrated seasoning, light soya sauce, sugar and water. 
8. Heat up saucepan with garlic oil from frying garlic. Heat up prepared sauce. Taste and adjust accordingly. Drizzle sauce over egg tofu and French beans. Top with crispy golden garlic and serve immediately (Optional: Add some corn flour water to thicken sauce.) 

Note: Prepare more sauce and adjust seasonings accordingly if you prefer to drizzle on rice. 😊

#knorrsg #knorrsingapore