Stir Fry Mallow Green with Cellophane Noodle and Dried Shrimp (清炒青瓜粉丝虾米）

This is a simple stir fried vegetable dish and you can generally found it in those food stall selling "mixed rice vegetable and meat".

Ingredients :-
青瓜，粉丝，虾米
The ingredients are Mallow Green (actually I don't quite know the actual name, it looks like cucumber but it is not), Cellophane Noodle and Dried Shrimp.  All these can be easily found in supermarket.  A small size Mallow Green can easily serve up to 6 person shares.  A small handful of Cellophane Noodle will do (usually when you buy it comes with a big bundle) as it will expand later when cook.  Another small handful of Dried Shrimp will do.

Cooking Instructions :-

1.  Soak both the Cellophane Noodle and Dried Shrimp in water for about 30 minutes.

2. Peel off the skin of the Mallow Green and wash it thoroughly.

3. Slice the Mallow Green into small rectangular strip.  Well for those who can't really slice it nicely, just cut into half, then from the half cut into another half and so on until the length is reasonable.  Next cut it into rectangular tube shape.

4. Heat up the wok/frying pan and once heated, put in the Dried Shrimp to stir fry first

5. Next put in all those sliced Mallow Green.

6. After like 1 or 2 minute stir frying them, add in water, enough to like half-filled the Mallow Green and Dried Shrimp.

7. Then put in the Cellophane Noodle.  Now the "trick" is at this stage.  The Cellophane Noodle will absorb the water so you have to watch carefully the water level in the wok/frying pan.  If required add in water.

8. The cue for the dish to be cooked and ready is the Cellophane Noodle.  The Cellophane Noodle should become soft.  Hence, as you stir frying the dish, you can pick up small portion of the Cellophane Noodle to see whether they are soft enough.  Another method is cover up the wok/frying pan with lit and let it kind of steam for between 1 to 3 minutes (depend on your water level in the wok/frying pan).

9.  You can also add some some soy sauce to give it some taste.

10.  At the end, the dish should still have some water and not totally dried.

Well, to certain extend, it is not an easy to cook dish due to the Cellophane Noodle but once it is nicely done, it will taste very nice.

Stir Fry Japanese Green with Sea Cucumber and Dougan (清炒日本青海参豆干)

The dish that I'm going to introduce here is a matched and mixed type of dish, probably can't find it anywhere as far as I know of.  It gave a fresh combination of stir frying vegetable.

Ingredients :-
日本青，海参，豆干
Japanese Green, Sea Cucumber and Dougan are the ingredients that are needed.  All these could be found in supermarket.  There is another type of similar vegetable, Shanghai Green, either of this is ok.  I'm using Japanese Green here as I have used Shanghai Green before and provides some alternative that all.  However, do note that Sea Cucumber does not come cheap as such you can choose the smallest piece when you buy.  1 packet of Japanese Green (2 packets if you are going to serve at least 4 person share), a small piece of Sea Cucumber and 1/2 to 1 piece of Dougan (if you are doing at least 4 person share, you probably need 1 piece of Dougan)

Cooking Instructions :-
1. Wash the Japanese Green

2. Wash the Sea Cucumber and cut into slices.

3. Wash the Dougan and cut into slices as well.

4. Heat up the wok/frying pan and once heated, put in the Sea Cucumber to stir fry.

5. Sea Cucumber in general is a bit the "hard" so after stir fry a short while, add it water as going to use the "boiled water" to help to steam them to soften it.

6. After add in water, cover up the wok/frying pan for 1 minute for steaming of the Sea Cucumber.

7. Next add in the Japanese Green and Dougan and stir fry together.  Have to be careful here as Dougan is very soft and if not careful in stir frying, they will end up in smaller pieces.

8. Again, cover up the wok/frying pan to steam them for about 1 to 2 minutes and it is finally done.

What you can find in the dish is Dougan is soft, Sea Cucumber if well cooked is smooth and Japanese Green is crunchy.  Hope you like it :)

Stir Fry Cucumber with Sea Cucumber and Prawn (清炒黄瓜海参虾)

The most common place you can find cucumber is with chicken rice and it is eaten raw.  Tired of eating raw cucumber ? (well raw cucumber is nutrition for your information) Here going to introduce a dish to stir fry cucumber with sea cucumber and prawn.  Well this dish could be expensive as sea cucumber doesn't come cheap.

Ingredients :-
黄瓜，海参，虾
Cucumber, Sea Cucumber and Prawn that what were needed for this dish.  1 stick of Cucumber, a dozen of prawn and 1 piece of Sea Cucumber will do.  This will be enough for 4 to 5 person share.  All these could be found in supermarket.  Price wise could be expensive as both Sea Cucumber and Prawn are priced by weight.

Cooking Instructions :-

1. Wash the Cucumber, Sea Cucumber and Prawn (after the shell was peeled off)

2. Now you have a choice either to peel off the Cucumber skin or leave it intact.

3. Cut the Cucumber into slices

4. Cut the Sea Cucumber into slices

5. For the Prawn, you could either leave it as a whole or cut into small pieces.

6. Heat up the wok/frying pan and once done put in the Prawn to fry

7. Next put in the Cucumber and the Sea Cucumber

8. After stir fry for about a minute or so, pour some water and cover up the wok/frying pan for about 2 to 3 minutes.  This is to use the steam to soften both the Cucumber and Sea Cucumber

9. Once done, get ready to serve.

Japanese Curry Rice (日式咖喱饭)

We'll try something different this time.  Well not really something unusual though.  Most have heard of it and even try it in Japanese restaurants before.  It is Japanese Curry Rice.  In general, the curry is not particular spicy and they even have a rating system for its spiciness.  That is great as you could choose the level of spiciness to suit for the kids.

Ingredients :-
米，萝卜，马铃薯，牛肉，洋葱，日式咖喱
Rice, Carrot, Potatoes, Beef Cube, Onion and Japanese Curry pack are all the ingredients.  Most of these ingredients can be easily found in Supermarket.  For the Beef Cube, they usually cut it out and pack it nicely for you.  there are couple of brands for the Japanese Curry pack out in the market, I try not to promote any particular brand and the most important is choose the one in which the spiciness is what you wanted.  Usually, I choose the medium rating for spiciness as it is just nice for kids.  2 or 3 Carrots, 2 or 3 Potatoes, 1 bulk of Onion, 1 pack of Beef Cube and 4-6 cubes of the Japanese Curry are needed to cook for a meal of 4 (2 adults and 2 children).  4 to 6 cubes of the Japanese Curry depend on how thick you want the curry to be.  For the Rice, you can choose the typical Japanese grain rice (softer but slightly more expensive) or just those normal rice you eat everyday.

Cooking Instructions :-
1. Peel off the skins for the Carrots, Potatoes and Onions.  Wash them and cut the Carrot and Potatoes into cubes.  Cut the Onions into slices.

2. Wash the Beef Cubes and if you wish you can further cut them into smaller cubes.  Note, to cut the Beef cube easily, you have to cut along the grooves line of the cube using those teeth type of knife.

3. Boil 1/2 or slightly less than that a pot of water (medium size of pot) as eventually you want to get 1/4 pot.

4. Once the water boils, put in the Beef Cubes, Carrots, Potatoes and Onions, cover up the pot and slow cook it for at least 3 hours.

5. 3 hours later, cook your rice.

6. Now all the ingredients inside the pot should be well cooked.  Carrot and Potatoes soften, Onions probably dissolves and Beef Cubes well done and this is the time to put in the Japanese Curry cubes.

7. Depending how many cubes of the Japanese Curry you want to use (4 to 6), slowly one by one put in.  Each time 1 cube is in, stir it to make sure it is fully dissolved then put in the next.  By doing so, you can also judge the thickness of the Japanese Curry.  Don't make it too thick or too dilute and that is why putting in 1 by 1 is a good idea.

8. By then the Rice should be cooked and everything are ready to be served.

Sure your kids will like it :)

Bitter Gourd Pork Rib Soup (苦瓜排骨汤)

Chinese New Year just over and bet must have eaten lot of heaty stuffs.  Here one of the traditional Chinese soup can help to cool the heat inside the body.  This soup is Bitter Gourd Pork Rib soup, a pretty common soup whereby you can find selling in food centers.

Ingredients :-
苦瓜，排骨，蚝干，八爪鱼干，红枣(可无)
Bitter Gourd, Pork Rib, Dried Oyster, Dried Octopus and Red Dates are the ingredients for it.  1 Bitter Gourd, a packet of Pork Rib between 300g - 400g, a few of Dried Oysters and Octopus, and a small handful of Red Dates will do.  All these ingredients are easily found in Supermarket.  Red Dates are optional !

Cooking Instructions :-

1. Wash the Bitter Gourd thoroughly as not going to peel off the skin.  

2. Next cut the Bitter Gourd into small portions (roughly 4 to 5 portions will do) and remove all those seeds inside the Bitter Gourd.  Must remember to remove all those seeds if not the soup will be extremely bitter.

3. Wash the Pork Rib, Dried Oyster, Dried Octopus and Red Dates.

4. 85% fill up a mid-size pot with water and boil it.

5. Once the water boils, put in the Pork Rib and once those are cooked put in the remaining of the ingredients.

6. Cover up the pot and slow boil for at least 4 hours.

7. Once done ready to serve.

Kids might not like it as taste a bit the bitter but is good for them so try to encourage them to drink.  Also the Bitter Gourd and Pork Rib if you dip them in Soy Sauce and ate it, they taste nice !!!

Dried Vegetable Soup (菜干汤)

First of all, welcome to 2013 :)
The first dish I'm going to introduce in 2013 is a soup, a very typical Chinese soup which you can find selling outside.  Dried Vegetable soup is the name.  It is not different to make it too.  Well Dried Vegetable is basically Xiao Baicai that was soaked in salt and dried.

Ingredients :-
菜干，排骨，干蚝
Dried Vegetable, Pork Rib and Dried Oyster are the ingredients.  All can be brought from Supermarket easily.  A packet of Dried Vegetable will be enough for one big pot of the soup.  4 to 5 Dried Oyster will do and 1 packet of Pork Rib between 200g to 300g will do.

Cooking Instruction :-
1.  Wash all your ingredients.

2. Boil a medium pot of water which was 85% filled.

3. Once the water is boiled, put in the Pork Rib, followed by the Dried Oyster and the Dried Vegetable.

4. Cover up the pot and let it slow boil for at least 4 hours.

tata !!!!!  see Daddy, as easy as ABC and in 4 hours time you will have the Dried Vegetable soup ready for your family !!!

Stir Fry Dow Miao With Braised Peanut (豆苗清炒花生豆)

Been a long long time since last posted.  Sorry for that :)

Today dish is stir frying Dow Miao with Braised Peanut.  Dow Miao is one of the most worth for money vegetable.  Reason being, the price of 1 packet of it costs the same as 1 packet of vegetable like Xiao Baichai, Kailan, Broccoli, Cauliflower, etc and 1 packet of Dow Miao can easily serve 4 to 5 person share whereas the latters about 3 person share.  There are couple of way to stir fry Dow Miao too, some doing just plain with garlic (i'm afraid by doing so, the children might not like the taste of Dow Miao), another simple way is to stir fry with Oyster Sauce and that would add some additional taste to it but a bit the plain too.  Here, going to stir fry Dow Miao with Braised Peanut.

Ingredients :-
豆苗，花生豆
The ingredients are just Dow Miao and a can of Braised Peanut.  All these can be brought from Supermarket easily.  As mentioned 1 packet of Dow Miao can serve up to 5 person share.

Cooking Instructions :-
1.  Wash the packet of Dow Miao.

2. Open up the can of Braised Peanut, do not pour away the sauce as will be using it to stir fry the Dow Miao to give it some taste.

3. Heat up the wok/frying pan.

4. Once heated, put in the Dow Miao and stir fry it.  Within a minute, the Dow Miao should be cooked.

5. Next pour in the can of Braised Peanut and continue to stir fry them together for another 3 minutes or so.  Can add it some water if you see the Braised Peanut sauce is drying up.

6. Once done, ready to serve.

This is a simple dish and if you are rushing for time, can consider this.  Am sure your kids will love them especially the peanut :)

Stir Fry Cauliflower with Dried Prawn and Carrot (清炒菜花萝卜虾米）

Cauliflower is another one of those "versatile" vegetable apart from Cabbage.  You can stir fry, make a soup out of it or just plain boiling it to make a dish.  Hence, going to do a simple stir fry dish with it.

Ingredients :-
菜花，萝卜，虾米
Cauliflower, Carrot and Dried Prawn are just the ingredients needed.  From the supermarket, 1 packet of Cauliflower (depends on size too) roughly can serve up to 3 person.  1 Carrot will be enough and a small handful of Dried Prawn will do.

Cooking Instructions :-
1.  Wash the Cauliflower and then cut into small portion.  The thick stem portion might want to consider peel off the outer layer of the skin first and then cut into smaller pieces.

2. Peel off the skin of the Carrot, wash it and then cut into thin slices.  Thin slices so that it is easier to stir fry as it can get soft faster and easily.

3. Soak the Dried Prawns in water for at least half an hour so that they are soften and easier to cook.

4. Heat up the frying pan/wok.  Put in the Carrot slices first to stir fry.  Once you see the Carrot slices kind of turns bright red, put in the Dried Prawn next.

5. After stir fry both the Carrot slices and Dried Prawns for a while, put in the Cauliflower.  Stir fry them a while and then pour in some water.  The usage of the water is to accelerate the cooking of the Cauliflower with the help of steam.  After pouring some water, cover up the frying pan/wok and let them steam for a while.  The steaming will help to soften the Cauliflower, Carrot and Dried Prawns.  About 3 to 5 minutes later, this dish is done.

6. The whole process probably take you not more than 10 minutes.

The Cauliflower and Carrot should taste sweet and soft.  Dried Prawn will be crunching.

Red Vegetable Salted Egg Soup (红菜咸蛋汤)

If you happened to go to the supermarket or wet market and saw a vegetable with a red coloured stalk and you might be attracted to it and bought it.  Hey, daddy wait, before you get excited about it, I going to pour some cold water on you !  You would regret should you fry that vegetable.  Shock ?  Well, the fact is I have never ever came across anyone trying to fry that vegetable to eat.  Reason being, the taste !  (my 2 rabbits also not interested in eating this Red Vegetable) So you might ask, why still selling this vegetable and why people still buying it.   If you accidentally  brought it, no worry I have solution for you.  Use the vegetable to make soup.  It is perhaps the only way I know of in processing that Red Vegetable.

Ingredients :-
红菜，咸蛋
Red Vegetable and Salted Eggs are the only ingredients you need to make the soup.  A packet of the Red Vegetable coupling with 3 to 4 Salted Eggs ( supermarket come with a packet of 4 Salted Eggs, just nice ) will do.  It is a simple soup but not bad in drinking.

Cooking Instructions :-
1. Wash the Red Vegetable, plucked off the leaves from the stalks.  You have option whether you want to include the red coloured stalk inside the soup or not.

2. Boil a medium size pot of water that is 3/4 filled.

3. When the water boils, put in the Red Vegetable.  If you choose to include the red coloured stalk, put in the stalks first, cover up the pot and let it boils for 1 minute before putting in the leaves.  Once the leaves are in, cover up the pot and let it boils for 5 minutes.

4. Now for the Salted Eggs, you have to remove the black mud ( that how they usually come with ) first.  Might be a bit the dirty there if you are not careful.  What I did is while they are still pack in the little plastic bag, remove the black mud from there so that most of the black mud will in inside the little plastic bag and you just throw away the plastic bag later.  Might still have some mud sticking onto the Salted Egg so you have to rinse it under the tap.

5. Next cracks the Salted Egg into the boiling soup.  Once all the Salted Eggs are in, stir the soup constantly.  One thing about Salted Egg from the normal egg is that, the yolk still in a piece even after you stir the soup.

6. Through stirring, you can see the Salted Egg white floating on top of the soup and the Salted Egg yolk solidify into a ball.  Cover up the pot and let it boils for 15 to 20 minutes.

7. The soup should be done already by this time.  The leave of the Red Vegetable will be soften by now.

The Red Vegetable is not that awful to eat after boiling inside the soup.  The soup should taste salty due to the Salted Egg.  Try to mix the Salted Egg yolk with rice to eat it.  This is a very simple soup and takes not more than 30 minutes to do it.

Stir Fry Beef With Celery (清炒芹菜牛肉)

Been quite a while not updating, busy lately !!!  Anyway today introduction is a stir fry meat dish.  What so special about this is the ingredients used basically are a perfect match for each other.  Stir fry Beef with Celery is what it is about today.  Beef and Celery each of this has such an extreme taste that somehow when they mix together they become a perfect match.  Ok I know most kids do not like the taste of Celery but when stir fry with Beef they might have second opinion on that.

Ingredients :-
牛肉，芹菜，灯笼椒
Beef and Celery are the main ingredients.  I added an option item, Capsicum.  Capsicum is to give some "coloring" effect to the dish and also it is one of a good candidate for use to stir fry meat.  Like Celery, most kids don't like to eat those.  All these ingredients can be bought in supermarket.  Supermarket usually specially package beef for stir fry used and they are all nicely sliced.  1 Capsicum will be enough, and there is so many color for you to choose from ( Green, Yellow, Orange and Red ).  For Celery usually they sell in 1 package in which you will have like 1/2 dozen of stalk in it.  You don't need so much as you need at most 2 stalks will do.  The rest can use to make soup.

Cooking Instruction :-
1.  Wash the Beef, they come in slices already so you save the time to cut them to slices.  1 package can serve for 4-6 person share.

2. Wash the Celery and chop them into pieces.  

3. Wash the Capsicum, cut them into half and take out the seeds ( hey if you like can take the seeds to grow ).  Now for each half of the Capsicum cut them into pieces.

4. Heat up the wok/frying pan and when heated put in the Capsicum and Celery to stir fry first.  Both are considered "hard" and take longer time to cook.  

5. About 1 to 2 minutes later, put in the slices of Beef and stir fry together.  As you might know if the Beef becomes over cooked, they will become very difficult to chew so once you see the Beef changes colour inside the wok/frying pan, add in some water (so as to create some juice ) then stir fry a little bit more and that will done.  The whole process should not take you more than 5 minutes.

Try to encourage your kids to eat the Celery and Capsicum and the juice can use to mix with Rice and that tastes nice too.

Stir Fry Egg Toufu (清抄鸡蛋豆腐)

This is one experimental dish I try to emulate the famous Hot Plate Toufu without using hot plate, the experiment didn't go well but ended the outcome of the dish taste good which my daughter likes.  So here introduce for all the daddies to try it out.  Apology for the non presentable look of the dish due to a failure in trying to emulate the Hot Plate Toufu.

Ingredients :-
鸡蛋豆腐，猪肉，鸡蛋，青葱
Egg Toufu, Lean Pork, Egg and Spring Onion are all the ingredients.  You can try using the normal Toufu instead of the Egg Toufu.  I chose Egg Toufu because it is harder relatively and when stir fry won't smash into pieces.  All these ingredients can be purchased from supermarket.  1 roll of Egg Toufu, 1 Egg, 1 stalk of Spring Onion and 1/2 a piece of the Lean Pork will be enough to serve for 4 person.

Cooking Instructions :-
1. Cut the Egg Toufu roll into slices as shown.  Remember the Hot Plate Toufu that you ate, those Toufu also has the above shape.

2. Wash the Lean Pork and cut into small pieces.

3. Wash the stalk of Spring Onion and slice it into small portion as shown.

4. Crack the egg and blender them as shown.  Using a blender to do that ? No need, I use the tradition way of using a pair of chopstick to do it. 

5. Heat up the wok/frying pan.  When heated, put in the Lean Pork and once those are stir fried cooked, put in the Egg Toufu.  Now be careful to stir fry the Egg Toufu, they are soft so try not to use too much force if not will smash into pieces.

6. Next put in the Spring Onion and once the Spring Onion is cooked ( will be very fast ) pour in the blended Egg.  It will just take few seconds for the blended Egg to get cook and when that happens the dish is done.

7. Now scooping up the dish might be a challenge to you so be careful not to smash the Toufu to pieces.

The Egg Toufu actually tastes sweet (not sure if you use the normal Toufu will it be the same taste), the Spring Onion gives you a fresh taste and the Lean Pork gives you the crunching feeling.  Can try those out Daddies for your kids.

Fry Bee Hoon (抄米粉)

Ok Daddies, do something different this time.  Tired of eating rice ? How about try fried bee hoon.  We can see stalls selling fried bee hoon in food courts or hawker centers, well why not try it yourself.  It is not difficult to cook.  Worth the try.

Ingredients :-
米粉，猪肉，菜心，鱼饼，虾，酱清
Rice Vermicelli, Pork, Cai Xin, Fish Cake, Prawn and Light Soy Sauce are the main ingredients.  There are two type of Rice Vermicelli, the normal white colour and the light brown version which is using brown rice to do it.  Either one will be fine but the Brown Rice Vermicelli appears to have more nutrition.  All these ingredients can be purchased from supermarket easily.  1 packet of Rice Vermicelli can serve for 6 person.  200g of Pork is probably what you need.  1 packet of Cai Xin will be more than enough.  2 pieces of Fish Cake will do and lastly probably 1 dozen of Prawn will do.

Cooking Instruction :-
1.  First, need to soak the Rice Vermicelli in water for at least 1/2 day.  Preferably 1 day.  The purpose of doing this is to make it soft.

2. Wash the Cai Xin and cut into portions.

3. Wash the Fish Cake, cut into slices as shown.

4. Wash the Pork and cut into small slices or portions as shown.

5. Peel off the shell of the Prawns, wash them and cut into smaller portions.

6. Pour about 2 table spoon full of the Light Soy Sauce into a rice bowl and then add in water to make it 2/3 full.

7. Heat up the wok/frying pan with oil.  Would suggest using wok as it is easier but if doesn't have wok, frying pan also will do.

8. Once heated up, put in the Pork and Prawn to stir fry them.

9. Next put in the Fish Cake and Cai Xin.

10. All those should be cooked now then pour in the 2/3 dilute Soy Sauce.

11. Last put in the Rice Vermicelli and stir fry them.  Suggest apart from using spatular/ladle, find a pair of long wooden chop stick to help you fry the bee hoon as it is easier to do that.

12. It will take between 5 to 10 minute to fully fry the bee hoon and in the process, probably need lot of strength as you have to continue flipping and mixing the Rice Vermicelli with rest of the ingredients.  Once done, get ready to serve.

Pretty much the same as what you see selling in the food courts or hawker centers but the different is you can put as much ingredients as you like and not that limited portions as what is been sold outside.

Give yourself a thumb up Daddies for frying the bee hoon, sure your kids will like it.  :)

Water Cress Pork Rib Soup (西洋菜排骨汤)

This is another those traditional Chinese soup which you can find selling in food court and it is not difficult to cook too.

Ingredients :-
西洋菜，排骨，红枣
Water Cress, Pork Rib and Red Dates are the ingredients.  Water Cress vegetable is quite common to find in supermarket but have to note nobody try to stir fry water cress as far I as known of.  Most people buy Water Cress is to boil soup.  Red Dates is to add some sweetness to the soup that all.  If you don't want, it is ok.

Cooking Instruction :-
1. Wash the Water Cress, Pork Ribs and Red Dates.

2. Boil a medium size pot with 85% of water at least.

3. When the water boils, put in the Pork Ribs, the Pork Ribs should get cook instantly.

4. Put in the branch of Water Cress and finally put in the Red Dates.

5. Cover up the pot, switch to SLOW FIRE and let the soup boil for at least 4 hours.

6. After 4 hours, you can see the color of the Water Cress turns from green to dark green in colour and the water level probably reduces to around 75%.  That will do and can get serve already.

While nobody stir fry Water Cress to eat but the boiled Water Cress taste not bad.  What you can do is pour a small dish of Soy Sauce and then dip the Water Cress and Pork Ribs in it and eat.  It is tasty !!!

Stir Fry Fuzhou Fishball With Fish Cake, Tomatoes (清抄福州鱼园)

Kids usually like to eat fishball and very often these can be found in fishball noddle.  Here is another way to cook fishball.  Instead of using the plain fishball, Fuzhou fishball is used instead as the meat inside the Fuzhou fishball makes it more crunchy.

Ingredients :-
福州鱼园，鱼饼，藩茄，酱油
Fuzhou Fishball, Fish Cake, Tomatoes and Soy Sauce are just what needed for this dish.  A packet of Fuzhou Fishball comes in 10 and that roughly can serve 3 person.  A packet of Fish Cake comes in 3 pieces, we need about 1 piece will do to go with 1 packet of Fuzhou Fishball.  1 Tomatoes goes with 1 packet of Fuzhou Fishball but if you wish to put more that better as Tomatoes are very healthy food.

Cooking Instruction :-
1. Wash the Fuzhou Fishball.

2. Wash and cut the Fish Cake into slices as shown.

3. Wash and cut the tomatoes into slices, 1 tomatoes can cut into 8 portions, that size will be just nice.

4. Pour 1 to 1.5 table spoon of Light Soy Sauce into a rice bowl then fill that up with water to about 1/2 the bowl level.

5. Heat up the wok/frying span with oil and once heated, put in the Fuzhou Fishball and Fish Cake slices to stir fry.  Very quickly pour in the bowl of Light Soy Sauce and mix it well with the fishball and fish cake.

6. Next put in the Tomatoes and stir fry all for about 3 to 5 minutes will do.  Once done, get it ready to serve.

Here you go, stir fry fishball, in this case Fuzhou Fishball. This is not a difficult dish to cook :)

Stir Fry Kailan With Minced Pork (清抄芥兰猪肉)

Stir Fry Kailan is pretty common in Singapore and one of the most common dish which you can find in food court is stir fry Kailan with Oyster Sauce.  Here what I am going to introduce is stir fry Kailan with Minced Pork.  This is one dish which I personally like it very much whenever my mother cooked it in the past.  It is quite straight forward in cooking that but need a little bit of effort in processing that all.

Ingredients :-
芥兰，碎猪肉，生姜 (可无)
Kailan, Minced Pork and Ginger are the only ingredients needed and both can be easily purchased from supermarket.  If you happen to go to wet market to purchase, there is an option of Kailan that is not being sprayed with insecticide and if you can go for those as it will taste better but the price is slightly more expensive.  Ginger to me is optionally in this dish.  If you don't want it, it is ok.

Cooking Instruction :-
1.  Soak the Kailan in salt water for half a day to one day.  Reason for doing so is to remove the strong insecticide on it and also to soften the stalk.  Kailan is perhaps one of the "hardest" vegetable.

2. Separate the stalk of the Kailan with the leaf.  For the leaf portion, cut into small little portions.  For the stalk, first you need to peel off the skin.  It is a must if not will get kind of difficult in chewing it.  After that, cut the stalk into small little cubic size.

3. If you have Ginger, cut into small slices will do.  Here I don't use Ginger.

4. Wash the Minced Pork and you only need about 1/3 to 1/2 of the whole packet of Minced Pork that you bought from supermarket.

5. Heat up the wok/frying pan with oil.  Once heated up put in the cubic size Kailan stalk to fry first.  They are hardest so need to get them cook first and soften before putting in the rest.

6.  Next put in the Minced Pork to fry together with the Kailan stalk and if you have Ginger put them in also.

7. Once the Minced Pork is cooked, put in the Kailan leaf and stir fry all of them for about 3 to 5 minutes.  In between, you can add in some water to dilute the oil and at the same time made use of the hot water to "boil" the stalks and leafs to make them soft.

8. Once done, ready to serve.  1 packet of Kailan can serve about 3 to 4 person share.

The best way to enjoy this dish is to scoop the Kailan leaf, stalk, Minced Pork and the juice and mix them with the rice to eat.  It is very nice.  Try it out, sure your kids will like it.

Stir Fry Prawn With Tomatoes Sauce (鲜虾抄藩茄汁)

Daddies, tired of all the vegetables, pork, chicken, and so on ? Now try something new, here using prawns.  Normally, people steam prawns or making prawn noodle or stir fry them with vegetable.  Here, I'm going to stir fry prawns with tomatoes sauce.

Ingredients :-
鲜虾，藩茄，鱼饼，藩茄汁
Prawns, Tomatoes, Fish Cakes and Ketchup are all the ingredients that needed.  Try buying fresh prawns ( not those already cooked and frozen type ) and a dozen of prawns is enough to serve people of 3 to 4.  2 Tomatoes will do and 1 piece of Fish Cakes.

Cooking Instructions :-
1. For the Prawns, you can either peel off the shell or left them intact, the choice is yours but remember to wash them cleanly.

2. For the piece of Fish Cake, cut them to slices as shown above.

3. The 2 Tomatoes after washed, cut them to portions also.  1 Tomatoes can cut into 8 portions.

4. Now to make the Tomatoes Sauce, pour in some Ketchup into a rice bowl and then add water to fill up 1/2 to 3/4 of the rice bowl.  Stir them together to form the sauce.  Roughly, 4 table spoon full of Ketchup will do but if you want to put more also can, doesn't matter as it will only make it sweeter that all.

5. Heat up the wok/frying pan with oil, once done, put in the Prawns to fry.  The Prawns will get cooked fast and next put in the slices of Fish Cake and portions of Tomatoes.  Use the spatular/ladle to mix them together.

6. Next pour in the already made Tomatoes Sauce and stir fry them for about 3 to 5 minutes.  Make sure the Tomatoes Sauce is thoroughly mix with the Prawns, Fish Cakes and Tomatoes.

7. Once done, it is ready to serve on the table.

Daddies can try asking your kids to use the Tomatoes Sauce to mix with the rice to eat, it is nice.

This is a very simple dish doesn't require much cooking time and all the ingredients are easily found in supermarket.  Tired of meat ? try the prawns !!!

Yellow Cucumber Pork Rib Soup (老黄瓜排骨汤)

Here is another those Chinese traditional soup where you can find selling in food court.  Well instead of paying to buy from others, why know make it yourself ?  It is not that difficult.

Ingredients :-
老黄瓜，排骨，干蚝，红枣，干八爪鱼
Yellow Cucumber, Pork Rib, Red Dates, Dried Oyster and Dried Octopus are all that is needed to make this soup.  Dried Octopus is optional as it might not be easily purchase from supermarket.  The rest of the ingredients can be found in supermarket without any doubts.  1 Yellow Cucumber, 1 packet of Pork Ribs, 4 to 5 Dried Oysters, 4 to 5 Red Dates and 3 to 4 Dried Octopus will be enough to boil a soup to serve 5 to 6 person.

Cooking Instruction :-
1. Wash the Yellow Cucumber, scrub it if required as we are not going to peel off the skin. Cut the Yellow Cucumber into 2 halves ( cut horizontally ) then remove those seeds inside it.  Next cut each half into mid-size slices ( roughly about 4 slices will do, so total you will have 8 slices for the whole Yellow Cucumber ).

2. Soak the Dried Oysters, Dried Octopus and Red Dates in bowl of water to soften them, roughly 15 to 30 minutes will do.

3. Wash the Pork Ribs.

4. Boil a medium size pot filled with 90% of water.

5. Once the water is boiled, put in the Pork Ribs.  When Pork Ribs cooked, put in the Dried Oysters, Dried Octopus and Red Dates.

6. Next, put in the slices of Yellow Cucumbers and cover up the pot, turn to SLOW FIRE and let it boil for at least 4 hours.  If you have a Slow Cooker, everything will be easy.

7.  After at least 4 hours, the 90% of water probably left about 70% to 75% and the slices of Yellow Cucumber mostly "dissolves" and that is done and ready to serve.

Apart from the tasty soup, the Yellow Cucumber ( less the skin ), the Dried Oysters, Dried Octopus and Pork Ribs are all very nice to eat also.  See Daddies, why paid outside to get this soup ( for not so much of ingredients inside ) while you can do it yourself so easily for your family ?

Stir Fry Cabbage With Dried Prawn, Carrot (包菜抄虾米萝卜)

Cabbage is one of the most "friendly" vegetable as I known of.  "Friendly" as in the sense that you can stir fry ( with basically almost every things ), boil, steam, use to make soup and marinate ( Korean Kimchi ).  Here, I'm going to introduce stir frying it with Dried Prawn and Carrot.

Ingredients :-
包菜，虾米，萝卜
Cabbage, Dried Prawns and Carrots are ingredients all I need here.  Note also, there are various type of Cabbage, some come in a bulb shape and some come in fan shape (Chinese Cabbage they are called).  Regardless of the shape, all can be used.  Again, all the ingredients can easily get at supermarket.

Cooking Instructions :-
1.  Wash the Cabbage and then cut it into stripe shape like as shown above.

2. Get a handful of Dried Prawns, wash it and you might want to soak them in water for 15 to 30 minutes as this will soften it, making it easier to cook.

3. Peel the skin off the Carrot, wash it and then cut it to slices.

4. Heat up the wok/frying pan and when the oil is hot enough, put in the Carrots.  Carrots are harder and take longer time to cook then the rest.

5. After a while, put in the Dried Prawns.  Stir fry both the Carrot slices and Dried Prawns for a while.

6. Next put in the Cabbages, use the spatular/ladle to stir fry all the three.  Cabbages can get cook easily so as long as you see the Cabbages shrink and get soften, pour in some water.  The water is used to dilute the oil and at the same time help to cook the Carrot slices and Dried Prawns.

7. After stir frying about 3 to 5 minutes, the dish is done.

If you can mix the juice with the rice and this make the rice taste nice :)

Hey Daddies, remembered said before Cabbage is a "friendly" vegetable, so next time if you run out of idea on vegetable dish, try the various method in cooking Cabbage.

Steam Sesame Oil Chicken (清蒸麻油鸡)

Here we do without stir frying or deep frying and instead using steam to cook chicken.  That would make your cooking utensils easier to clean after that as they are not oily.  Sesame oil chicken is quite a common dish in Chinese cooking.

Ingredients :-
鸡肉，麻油，酱油，生姜，香菇
Chicken Meat, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce ( the light version ), Ginger and Mushroom.  All these ingredients can be easily found in supermarket.  For the Chicken Meat, you can either buy the Chicken Breast Meat or Drumstick.  The difference between the two is processing time.  Drumstick takes longer time to steam as compared with Chicken Breast and also Chicken Breast is boneless.

Cooking Instruction :-
1.  Wash the Chicken Meat.  If you are using a drumstick make one or two cut to the meat, this cut marks are use to check whether the Chicken is cooked or not during steaming process.  If you are using Chicken Breast Meat, usually they are cut nicely into portion for you when you purchase.  Next place the Chicken Meat onto a plate.

2. Slice the Ginger as shown above then put them into the plate of Chicken Meat.

3. Now is the marinating of the Chicken Meat with Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil.  Pour in the Soy Sauce, about 3 - 5 table spoonful will do depending how much Chicken Meat you have.  Then pour in another 1 table spoonful of Sesame Oil will do and start marinating the Chicken Meat, Ginger, Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil together.  Leave the marinated Chicken Meat about at least 30 minutes before putting it to steam.

4. To steam, we need a wok/frying pan that is large enough to hold the plate of marinated Chicken Meat.  You also need a Steaming Stand.

5. Fill the wok/frying pan with water, roughly 1 to 2 rice bowl of rice will be enough.  Put in the Steaming Stand, cover up the wok/frying pan and boil until steam appears.

6. Cut the Mushroom into slices and place them onto the marinated Chicken Meat.

7. Once the water is boiled, take out the wok/frying pan cover, put the plate of marinated Chicken Meat onto the Steaming Stand, cover back the wok/frying pan cover and let it steam.  For Chicken Breast Meat take about 5 to 10 minutes and if using Drumstick will take slightly longer about 10 to 15 minutes to fully steam.  Be careful not to steam until all the water in the wok/frying pan get evaporated if not will damage the wok/frying pan.  If you put enough water, it should be able to last about 15 minutes before it get all evaporated.

8. Once done, take out and ready to serve.

Daddies, can smell the nice smell due to the Sesame Oil ? Also tell you something, nice the juice ( Soy Sauce and Sesame Oil ) to your rice and you will like it too.

Steam Bean Curd With Soy Sauce (清蒸酱油豆腐)

This is one of the simplest dish with required bare minimum time to cook.  If you are running short of time and do not want to compromise on nutrition, this is the one.

Ingredients :-
豆腐，黑酱油，炸葱头
Bean Curd, Dark Soy Sauce and Fried Spring Onion are all you need to prepare this dish.  All these can be easily bought from supermarket.

Cooking Instruction :-
1. Open up the Bean Curd and place the whole Bean Curd into a plate.  1 Bean Curd could serve for 4 to 5 person share.

2. Pour in the Dark Soy Sauce.  Note Dark Soy Sauce is not as salty as the light version so don't be afraid to put too much.

3. Put some Fried Spring Onion onto the top of the Bean Curd.

4. Next step is to put the plate of Soy Sauce Bean Curd to steam.  There are couples of methods to steam it.  The traditional way is to boil some water in a wok, put a stand into the wok and then place the plate of Bean Curd on top of the stand, cover up the wok and let the steam from the boiling water to do the job.  That would probably take about 3 minutes will do.  Now, I'm going to teach you a more simple and less tedious way so that you no need to wash so many utensils at the end of the day.  Remember cooking rice with rice cooker ?  When the rice is just cooked ( the cook button if the rice cooker trigger ), steam will emit from the rice cooker, what we going to do is to use the steam to do the job.  Open up the rice cooker cover and place the plate of Bean Curd inside, on top of the cooked rice and hurried up cover back the rice cooker cover.  With that it will take about 3 to 5 minutes to get the Bean Curd steamed.  To use this method, your plate must be smaller than the rice cooker and that probably is the only limitation.  Oh, one more important thing, make sure the base of your plate is clean before putting on top of the cooked rice if not you will contaminated the rice.

5. Once done, take out and get ready to serve.

A simple and straight forwards dish that required minimum preparation and no compromise in term of nutrition.