Stir-fried Beansprouts with Beancurd

  I think almost every Chinese family in Singapore will have their own version for this dish. This used to be a dish we would eat almost every week (and sometimes more than once) when I was much younger as it was a cheap, nutritious and yet simple and quick dish to prepare. (My mother would get about 50 cents worth of beansprouts and a large piece of beancurd which cost about another 40 cents then, and that was sufficient to feed about 5-6 mouths)

My mother would also tell me stories of the times (before I was born) when my father was retrenched from his job, and how they would go to the wet market to ask for the left over beansprouts casings and pick out the remaining beansprouts to cook the dish. Eating this dish therefore not only brings back childhood memories but also reminds me to appreciate what I have in life and to be thankful for what I am given.

[Click on Read More to get the full pictorial recipe.]

Ingredients:

Time to Prepare including cooking time: 15 min
Serving Size : 3 - 4 people

• 2 small cubes of beancurd or one large cube of bean curd. They are the harder variety ones, not the silken toufu. I usually try to get them from the wet markets, however, they are also sold at the local supermarkets. You may need to try out different brands, but if buying from the local supermarket (NTUC Fairprice), I prefer to use the ones by "Sheen" - the taste is closer to the ones I had when I was younger.

• 300g of beansprouts. You don't need to be exact. Remove the shells that you can see. If you are lazy, you can buy from the supermarkets those that have both the heads and the tails removed, it costs more though about $1.00+ per pack of about 150g. I prefer to have both the heads and tails, but for today, I used the ones with the heads and tails removed as these were the fresher ones at the supermarket.)

• 1-2 segments garlic (chopped finely)

• Oil for Frying the beancurd. (I use sunflower oil, as the oil is light and does not impart additional smell to the beancurd.)

• SeaSalt and Light Soya Sauce to taste.

Procedure:

Step 1:  Heat the wok over high flame.  Add in some sunflower oil.  The oil should cover the base of the work about 1/2 inch thick and then lower the flame to medium heat.  Don't really worry about the amount of oil used here, this is used for frying the beancurd and we will drain the oil and use a lot less on the final dish. 

Step 2:  While the oil is heating up, take the time to cut the beancurd into bite size.  (Approx. 1/2 inch wide and 1 inch long...again you don't need to be exact.)  To prevent the beancurd from sticking to the wok during frying, you may want to dry the sides with a kitchen towel first.

Step 3:  You need to wait for the oil to be sufficiently hot before you add in the beancurd.  It is hot enough when the oil looks as if it is is about to smoke, there is small streams of what looks like steam but not really smoking yet.  Lift the wok and swirl the oil around to coat the side.  This not only prevents the oil from smoking but the coating at the sides prevents the beancurd from sticking to the sides of the wok.

Do not throw in the beancurd, cause the oil will splatter!.  If the sides of the wok is coated with oil, you will find it relatively easy to slide the beancurd in piece by piece from the side of the wok.  Alternatively, you can release the beancurd piece by piece into the oil using tongs or chopsticks, remember, the closer you release to the oil, the less splattering there will be.

Note :  Do not turn over the beancurd at this point of time, wait for the bottom to crisp up.  You will be able see when it does from the side of the beancurd when it starts turning slight golden in colour.

 Step 4:  While waiting for the beancurd to crisp on one side, you may want to wash your beansprouts.  I put mine in a strainer and run it over running water, while tossing the beansprout and sloshing it around. 

 

Step 5: Turn the the beancurd over when the bottom is slightly golden brown and fry till the beancurd is evenly golden.  You can use a spatula or a chopstick to do the turning.  The ready beancurd should be crisp on the outside and still soft on the inside.

Once ready, remove them, using the spatula from the oil and place them on tempura paper or on a sieve to absorb the excess oil. Set aside for later use.

Step 6: Remove the oil from the wok till only a little is left, sufficient for stir frying of the garlic. (It should really be only sufficient to just coat the garlic.) Lightly fry the chopped garlic till fragrant and the sides of the pieces starts to brown.

Step 7: Add in the washed beansprouts and with the spatula, mix garlic into the beansprout.  Sprinkle in the seasalt (approx. 1/2 tsp) and drizzle a little light soya sauce (approx. 1/2 tsp).  Mix well.

Please do not add in too much light soya, else the beansprouts will brown too much. 

Step 8: Add in beancurd and mix well. You may want to add

Please do not overfry, just mix in the beancurd. The beansprouts taste best when it retains its crisp without tasting too raw. (Btw, beansprouts can be eaten raw.)

Step 9: The dish is now ready, so just remove it from the wok and set it on a plate for serving.

Comments:

• Variations:  There are many variations to this dish.  Some people like to add in shredded chicken, or small pieces of salted fish that has be prefried.  My mother-in-law adds in chilli slices and sliced shitake mushroom.  I have a friend who tells me his favourite dish is when the beansprouts are stir-fried with strips of pickled vegetables (mustard greens).  I guess everyone has our own experiences with this dish and hence has their own personal preferences.
• This dish goes particularly well with rice and Teochew porridge.
• Using a wok for deep frying at home:  The wok is a very versatile too, and can be used for frying fish, beancurd etc.  The trick is to prevent sticking, is to ensure the wok is well heated through, add in the oil for heating only when the wok is well heated (so that the oil does not overheat and smoking when the whole wok is heating up).  Swirl the heated oil to coat the side before adding in the wok and ensure that you have remove any excess moisture from whatever you are adding into the work.
• "What if I don't own a wok?"  Don't worry so much....you can still deep-fry the beancurd in a frying pan, or deep-fryer, and stir fry the rest of the recipe in a frying pan.  I tend to favour the wok as it is very versatile and can do the whole dish up using just the wok....I don't like to wash too many utensils at the end.

How to Cook Traditional Sweet Potato Teochew Porridge

  My son is down with flu.  At times like these, he has very little appetite and would only want something simple and not too oily for him to stomach.  So he decided he wanted to have some Teochew porridge.

  Teochew porridge is a simple dish which you can have a variety of side dishes to accompany.  This is a relatively simple dish to cook and is one of my staples for lunch when I was younger.  It is such a staple for many in the older generation that my father-in-law still has it for breakfast every morning with a lightly steamed fish or some pickled vegetables.

  Teochew porridge is different from the Cantonese congee, as the grain are still suppose to be very distinctive when cooked. When I was younger, I would simply have it with a little bit of light soya sauce (shoyu), a small piece of fermented beancurd or when times allowed a small piece of fried salted fish...and that to me is bliss....it always warms my heart after having a bowl of the porridge. 
 
This porridge can be found at most stalls at the hawkers or coffee shops in Singapore selling economical rice, though theirs do not come with sweet potatoes.  For shops that specialise in Teochew porridge, the price is always quite expensive, coming up to about $10++ for a meal for two with only about 3 side dishes, so I usually do not patronise those stalls as I find that I can easily whip up a meal on my own.

Traditional Sweet Potato Teochew Porridge

Serving : 2 - 3 people
Preparation time : 20 min (for brown rice it may take an additional 10 min)

Ingredients :

• 1 cup of long-grained jasmine white rice ( you can use brown rice here as well, the cooking time is only a little longer)
• water
• 1 -2 sweet potato (depending on how much you can finish)

Procedure:

 Step 1  

Put the rice into a pot of sufficient size.  The pot should be sufficient large so that that uncooked rice only takes up about 1/3 the size of the pot.  I like to use claypot here,  as I find the flavour of the sweet potatoes can infuse into the porridge better.  But you can use any pot of sufficient size.

Step 2  

Wash the rice about 2 to 3 times, to remove any impurities from the rice.  The water should still be murky (like milk diluted many times) when the rice is washed.

 Step 3                                                                                       Add water till the pot is approximately 2/3 full.  Do not fill to the brim else the water will bubble over when boiled.

Step 4
Put the pot over a stove over a large flame.  Cover with a lid leaving a small gap and let it boil, you will need to stir once or twice during the boiling to losen any grains that may get stucked at the bottom, else those grains will char.




Step 5
Peel the sweet potato(es) with a potato peeler and but into bite size.  Note that the size will get smaller the sides will break off and infuse in the porridge when cooked.  You can use any variety of sweet potato here.  My favourites are the orange-fleshed ones (usually from Australia) and the Japanese sweet potatoes.  If you can get organic ones, You can just scrub the sweet potatoes and cook it with the skin on and eat it.  It is suppose to be more nutritious.

Step 6

I soak the sweet potatoes in water while waiting for the porridge to boil so that they do not discolour.

Step 7

When the porridge boils, you will need to remove the lid.

Step 8

Add in the sweet potato at this junction.  And wait for the mixture to boil again.  When it boils, lower the flame till the mixture just boils but not over the pot.







Step 9

Continue cooking till the grains are cooked through, (that happens when the grain is of uniform colouration) and the grains start to fluff and split.  (In Chinese, we say that the grains just "opened").   Off the flame at this junction.

 Step 10

Put back the lid, and let the grains cotinue to cook in its own heat while you prepare the side dishes.

When you are ready, you can serve the porridge with its side dishes.

Dishes that can goes well with Teochew Porridge:

• 
  
  Fried Luncheon Meat Cubes (my kids favourite, though not entirely healthy, but I occasionally indulge them.
• 
  
  Sliced Steamed Squid with Orange Sauce Dip
• 
  
  Pickled Vegetables
• 
  
  Stir Fried Beansprouts with Beancurd
• 
  
  Onion Omelette

How Can I Live Without My Rice Cooker.

  My colleagues are always amazed how I am able to bring home-cooked lunch to work.  Simple, when I cook, there is usually more than enough to last me and my husband to more than one meal.  But what truly motivates me is that School Canteen food does not appeal to me and I do not always have the luxury of eating out.  So yes, that will sometime motivate me  to wake up at 5 am in the morning (I usually wake up at 5:30 am if there is no need to prepare lunch) to make bento for me and my husband's lunch. 

  One appliance I cannot do without is my rice cooker, which isZojirushi 3 cup rice cooker which I bought in 2004 during my chemotherapy when I switched to eating brown rice.  It is really an amazing device.

  It has a timer function that allows me to put in my rice and water one night beforehand, so that it can be ready at 5 am in the morning when I wake up to assemble the bento.  It is a great cooker as it is able to take small portions, there are times when my husband needs to meet clients and will not be able to have lunch bento.....so it always me to cook 1/2 cup of raw rice (which yields about a bowl of rice for my bento).  There are gradations at the side of the pot that tells you exactly how much water you need to put without using your finger to measure...that is a traditional way my mother taught me to measure how much water to use for rice.  It cooks brown rice extremely well, sufficient cooked so that is soft but yet every rice grain is well defined and the texture is sufficient chewy. 

  My kids are growing older now,  and their appetite has grown bigger.  But the rice-cooker is still sufficient, as I usually need to cook 2 and a quarter cups of (raw) rice to sufficiently feed my family of four.  However, I am secretly hoping that my rice cooker will break down....as I like to entertain, so during times like these I have to cook twice at maximum capacity.  I am trying now very hard to convince my husband I need 5 1/2 cup rice cooker, though my next one will still be a Zojirushi one. :>

Singapore Style Traditional Breakfast in Jiffy - Eggs and Toast

Introduction:

 

 Eggs and Toast with Kaya (Egg Jam) and Butter or with Butter and sugar has always been my childhood food.  At times, I would even have it for breakfast in a row.  Many Singaporeans like it too, judging from the success (and also number) of the many franchises of "Yat Kun Coffeeshop" and "Killiney coffeeshop", this can be found in every coffeeshop in Singapore as well.  This has almost become "National Food" for Singapore.  I guess people like it because it brings back childhood memory.  For me, I hardly patronise the coffeeshops cause I simply find the breakfast too expensive.  For a buttered slice of toast sliced in half and small cup of coffee and 2 eggs, I have to pay between $2.50 to $4.00, where I can cook for my family at a much smaller price, and anyway I like to have it at home.

 

Here I share how I prepare the breakfast, brush my teeth, all in a jiffy in approximately (15 min - 20 min) for a morning for my family of four.

 

Recipe Name:  Soft Boil Eggs and Toast with Kaya and Sugar
Serves : 3-4

Time for preparation: 15 min - 20 min

 

Steps for preparation are

1. 
   
   Fill a saucepan with sufficient water to cover the eggs and set it on a stove for boiling.  You should have significantly more water so the temperature will not fall too much.  You need the heat to cook the eggs.
2. 
   
   Take out the eggs, I usually have 2 eggs per person.  They should be fresh and at room temperature.  If they were previously in the fridge, you may want to soak them room temperature water, like what I did below, to bring them quickly to room temperature.

  To ensure that my family do not get to exposed to homones or antibiotics.  I tend to choose eggs which chickens have not been fed on homones and antibiotics.  In Singapore, I usually buy eggs from Fairprice NTUC and I pick the Sakura Eggs.  It costs a little more at SGD$2.60 - $2.80 for a pack of eggs as compared to the regular eggs at $1.55 per pack of 10.

3.  At this juncture, while waiting for the water to boil, I will set my oven to 170 degrees Celsius and pop in the bread. I tend not to use the toaster (not because I cannot afford to use one), because I can toast the 6-8 slices of bread at one go.

4.  If possible, I will use the traditional bread which I usually get from Balestier Road when I visit my husband's grandmother, or my in-laws visit them on the weekends.  But sometimes, I will just use the ordinary sandwich loaf e.g. Gardenia High Fibre white bread.

5.  While waiting for water and toast, I pop into the bathroom to brush my teeth and cleanse my face.  When I am ready the water would be boiling and one side of the toast should be suitably browned.

6.  I will first turn the toast on the other side to brown the other side as well, before I attend to the eggs.

7.  For the eggs, there are usually a few ways to can cook it from here.

• First Method:  If you have 4 or less than 4 eggs.  You may want to use a gadget which is a soft boil egg maker.  I have one which I bought more than 10 years ago for SGD$5 at Carrefour.  It is just a simple container with a small hole at the bottom with gradations to indicate where to pour the water till.  You place the eggs and pour in the water to the appropriate level.  It works on controlling the amount of time the eggs get soaked in the hot water.
• Second Method:  If you have more than 4 eggs and do not own a softboil egg maker.  You can lower the eggs gently into the hot water with a spoon.  Cover the saucepan with a lid and keep it soaked for approximately 8 minutes.  If you like you yolk a little harder then 10 minutes. Note that if the weather is colder e.g. like in Sydney during winter, you need to soak for 15 minutes.  Alternatively, put the eggs in
  wide mouth thermos flask for 10 minutes.

The toasts should be nicely toasted on the other side as well and should be ready for eating. Remove from oven.  If the toast is too thick, use a bread knife to slit it in half from the middle (I like the thick toasts, cause when slit in half it is extremely thin and just crumbles when I bite into it.)

8.  Essentially the breakfast is ready.  Just crack the eggs into a bowl and add soya sauce and pepper to taste. Take the toast and butter it with butter and Kaya (coconut and egg jam), my children likes butter sprinkled with sugar.  Dip the toast into the soft-boiled eggs and enjoy your breakfast.

Discovering Sea Salt

  I first started using sea salt when I contracted breast cancer in 2004.  After undergoing 2 operations, I found that I had contracted late Stage 2 till early Stage 3 breast cancer as my cancer had spread my my lymph nodes.

  While undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, my husband was particularly worried about my immunity system and insisted I visited a Chinese Physician as well.  My physician not only prescribed medicinal herbs to complement the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment but also insisted on strict diet for me, the general guidelines were:

•  Less processed food, if possible no meat which includes pork, beef and mutton.  If I wanted to have chicken, it had to be one which was not fed on homones and antibiotics.  Fish was however occasionally allowed
• Whole grains, this meant no white bread, no white rice.  I switched to eating brown rice and have been on it since.
• Lots of fruits and vegetables, hopefully raw.  She insisted that raw cabbage was good and so if I could, munch on slices of raw cabbage.  I was also to juice 2 cucumber each morning and drink the juice.
• In terms of seasoning, she insisted on no msg, no sugar and I could only rely on sea salt.

  I was in for a headache at that time, looking at the local food sold in Singapore, I realised most of them could not fit the criteria that she wanted.  Our local food are mainly carbo based, rice and noodles, there is hardly any vegetables in those food.  Vegetables are mainly stir fried, salads was not a common place in our diet.  Organic restaurants could not be a mainstay in my diet. 

  Being someone who can cook.  I decided to look for recipes that could fit the criteria and yet where more suited for the Asian diet.  My husband then came across this book called Longevity: The Tao of eating and healing by Aileen Yeoh.  That began my journey for a macrobiotic diet.

  I am now 5 years past my last date of chemotherapy and still surviving.  However, embarrased to say, I have not kept strictly to the diet prescribed by my physician.  However, I still try to keep to guidelines.  I still use sea salt in my cooking as I found it more flavourful then normal table salt (sodium chloride), with sea salt there is little need for me to monosodium glutamate, or sugar to my daily cooking.  Though a little more expensive, I can still afford it so I keep to it.

  The sea salt brands I use vary because of the availability at the supermarkets.  But the common brands I use are Bob's Red Mill and Origins (from a local organic shop).  The Japanese supermarkets like Meidya also carry sea salt.  I use the natural sea salt and not the iodized version though.

  You may want to replace your cooking with sea salt cooking and you will find that the food you make is more flavourful.  Somehow, sea salt gives body to the food.

Crocodile Soup

(Serves about 4)

Time for preparation : 10 min

Time for cooking : At least 4 hours in a slow cooker. An hour when boiled and simmered. (I usually use a slow cooker as I can put it in the morning, go to work and then come back to drink the soup after work.)

My respiratory system is a little weak and as a teacher, I have to project my voice everyday. Hence, I always dread it when I have flu, as my wheezing will act up. My son takes after me and occasionally have wheezing problems when he is down with flu. The crocodile soup is said to be good for asthma and bronchitis so I bought the ingredients to make the soup today. This is the second time he is having and I am not sure if it works, but crocodile soup can be used for strengthening the immunity as well so I guess there is no harm. Okay....down to the ingredients and the steps:

You will first need a packet of herbs for crocodile soup and crocodile meat+bone. I got them at Cold Storage at Sixth Avenue. The cost of the herbs are $3.00 and the bone is sold by kilogram and cost $36.00 / kg. I got a pack for about $9.

The herbs are washed well, you may use a sieve and they are placed together in a slow cooker crockpot.

I added in about 6 bowls of water (small rice bowl) approximately 1200 ml as I was going to leave the crockpot on for almost half a day and drink the soup only in the evening.

The crockpot is then put in the slowcooker and cooked under auto setting.(Under the auto setting, the heater is set to hight for an hour and gets set to low)

Yap....and the soup is ready for drinking in the evening.....just use a sieve to filter the herbs. Add in salt according to your taste before drinking. I use sea salt....which is meant for another article.....

My Food and Me

I love food....don't know why but yes I love food and enjoy cooking them. It could be because I have been exposed to cooking from young. I have been helping out in the kitchen from as young as I could remember, cutting, pounding, chopping and peeling....before I even entered school. My mother was a cooking instructor and I was responsible for helping to ensure all her ingredients were properly prepared.
By the age of 6, my mother taught me to cook rice, fry omelette and cook instant noodles....all essential skills to ensure that I would not be hungry when alone at home. By the age of 9, my mother decided that I should learn to cook (so that I could become a good wife) and designated me to the responsibility of the cooking of the daily dinner to me. As she had to work in the evening, she would leave the ingredients on the kitchen table, or fridge, gave me instructions on what I was to prepare and how they were to be prepared. Details were however vague, and I can remember my first plate of beansprouts were overcooked as I did not know when to stop stir frying.
During festive seasons, like Chinese New Year, Dumpling Festival and Mooncake festival, my mother would receive large orders of festive food and guess who would be responsible for washing, cutting, peeling and weighing the massive amount of ingredients - me of course....(did you ever try cutting bags and bags and bags of winter melon till your hand were all bruised from holding the large chopper that was oversized). But in those times, it was not considered child abuse....as my mother only took the orders to supplement the insignificant income that my father brought home, and I was just doing my part for the family. (My elder brother was often left out of the process as he was the male of the family.)
However, in the process, I picked up the skills of cooking and eventually developed a passion for it. I am now in a much more financially stable state, but I still love to cook....and this is my blog to document my experiences and my experiment with food.
Being also a cancer survivor, I am also cautious in the ingredients I use. But alas, I will always have some cravings for my comfort food - the food that I so often ate when I was young- which was often simple, but unhealthy....so occasionally I still indulge in them...under the watchful eyes of my worried husband.
So with this blog...I begin my adventure in documenting my experiences and experiments in food.