Chives Meat Dumpling

With compliments from Gen, she shared this dish with us in a recent cook out.

Makes about 30
Ingredients
- 400g of minced pork
- 1 bunch of chives
- 2 tablespoons of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of cornflour
- light soy sauce
- sesame oil
- pepper
- shaoxing wine
- shanghai / taiwanese dumpling skin

Sauce
- Ginger
- Black vinegar

Method
- Marinate the meat and chives with light soya sauce, sesame oil, pepper, wine and cornflour
- Leave it for about 1-2 hours
- Wrap in dumpling skin and seal the ends with water mixed with cornflour. Leave a gap between each dumpling to avoid them sticking together.
- Using a frying pan, fry on the ends till brown before flipping to its side. After flipping to another side, pour 1/4 of hot water and cover the pan till the water boils. Ready to be served.

Banana Bread

Ingredients
1.5 cups of plain flour
3 large bananas, very ripe (del monte types) - makes about 1-1/3 cups
1/2 cup Miracle Whip dressing Or natural yogurt.
3/4 cup sugar, white or brown
1 egg, whisked
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
 
Method
- Preheat oven to 175 degree celcius
- Mashed the ripe bananas, do not overmash them if you will like to have a bit of texture in your cake.
- Combine egg, banana, sugar, dressing and whisk until well blended.
- Mix flour, salt, baking soda, walnuts in a separate bowl.
- Add the dry to wet mixture and stir just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour into greased loaf pan, 4 x 8 inch.
- Bake for an hour or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 10-15mins, remove from pan to wire rack.
- Served best when warm and with vanilla ice cream!

Remarks
- To make muffins, you can pour the mixture into greased muffin tins / cups instead, and bake for 25 - 30 mins.

Source: Kraftfoods.com

Stir fried chicken thigh with dark soy sauce

Caught Kylie Kwong's programme on Discovery Channel. I have to try this someday!

Chicken thighs marinated with
- soy sauce
- dark soy sauce
- sesame oil
- chinese wine
- chopped ginger
- honey
- dark sweet sauce
- pepper
- oyster sauce
Leave in fridge overnight.

Add oil, fry chicken in wok on high heat. After chicken has been cooked, remove from wok. Fry dried chilli with red cut chilli. Then mixed chicken with chilli, and add a dash of salt. Squeeze half a lime into it and then serve.

Homemade Beef Burger + Banana Kiwi Yogurt Salad

I just made this for dinner. The husband loved it!

Beef Burger

Preparation time - 1 hour
Serving - 4 burgers (for 2 adults with good appetite!)

Ingredients
Minced lean beef - 300g
Rolled oats - 3 to 4 tablespoons (can also use Quaker Instant oats)
Yellow onion - 1 (skinned and finely chopped 1/2 of it, sliced to bite size for e remaining 1/2)
Egg - 1 (beaten)
Lettuce leaves - about 2 big slices, cut into 4 pieces
Tomato - 1, cut into 8 parallel slices
Sandwich/hamburger cheese - 4 slices
Hamburger buns - 4, cut into halves (I used Gardenia hamburgers)

Seasoning
Salt x 1 teaspoon
Pepper / Black peppercorn x 1 teaspoon
Paprika x 1 teaspoon
Mixed dried herbs x 1/2 teaspoon

Method
1. Mix the minced beef with the oats, egg, chopped onions and seasoning until they stick well together.
2. Split the meat dough into 4 even balls and flatten them using your palm to form patties. Try to make sure the size of the patty is about the same/slightly bigger than the hamburger.
3. Using olive oil, fry the beef patties for 4-5 mins on each side until brown and cooked. Medium heat source.
4. When the patty is about cooked, place the cheese slice on top of each patty. When the cheese melts, turn off the heat source.
5. Toast the hamburger in your oven/toaster.
6. Layer the patty and melted cheese on the burger with lettuce, tomatoes, sliced onions. Add chilli / tomato sauce or mustard if desired.

Banana Kiwi Yogurt Salad

Ingredients
Del Monte Bananas - 2 (not too ripe ones as it can get too mushy)
Kiwi - 1
Raisins - 1 small pack
Plain Yogurt - 3 tablespoon full
Walnuts - a handful, crushed them into smaller pieces using your hands.

Method
1. Cut the bananas and kiwi into bite size and mixed them together with the raisins and walnuts.
2. Add the yogurt and mix well. Pour into serving dish.

My affair with cooking...

My interest for cooking started when I was in my secondary school years. I had loved my home econs cooking classes, and how I wished I could have taken HE lessons till Sec 4. I still had fond memories of making my first french toast in HE class in Sec 1, and I was so proud when I brought the toast home to show mum. My first baking attempt in HE was to make rock buns, it was so enjoyable that I baked more rock buns at home using a mini toaster (as we did not have an oven). Needless to say, my rock buns did not rise, I ended up with 'flat' buns. Since then, I knew I have to own an oven.

Mum had to juggle 2 jobs then which meant she could only be home after 11pm every day, yet she wanted dad to enjoy home cooked dinner. By then, I was old enough to take on domestic responsibilities, yet too young to be hanging out with friends after school (like my elder sis & bro), thus I was officially appointed Assistant Chef of the family. I remembered Dad bestowed the title upon me.

In the beginning, all I needed to do was to transfer the raw, marinated fish/poultry/seafood from the fridge to the steamer, cook rice / reheat the cooked food and pot of soup. Piece of cake!

Gradually, mum felt that I was ready for more. Before I knew it, I was happily spending most evenings in the kitchen - cleaning and removing the innards of poultry/fish, cutting, slicing/chopping (I don't like this part the most), marinating, brewing soup, stewing, deep frying, stir frying! I did not get it right all the time, but it was fun and encouraging as dad was my avid supporter!

My relationship with cooking stopped when I got into college. I fell in love and had to juggle my life around friends, boyfriend and school commitments. With volleyball training up to 3 evenings/week, there was no way I could continue to cook for the family. Going into Uni was worse, I was hardly home. Cooking then was largely reduced to mere instant noodles with luncheon meat or yong tau foo (bought at Jurong Pt Fairprice) in the hall's kitchenette when I got sick of Mr Bay's food.

Naturally, I felt really lost in my brand new kitchen when I first attempted to cook a decent meal for the husband shortly after we got married. Not just because I had lost the 'flair' for cooking, I was also not used to cooking for only 2 persons!

With my busy lifestyle, it takes extra effort to whip up a meal for the 2 of us. Nonetheless, I still enjoy the occasional cook out. The purpose of setting up this blog is to document all the recipes I've experimented with so I won't forget them as time passes, it's also a quick reference for me as and when I need, and perhaps through this blog, I can pass on my learnings to friends who share my passion. Feel free to comment on my entries.

Bon appétit!