Chinny's Mee Siam Goreng

I luv noodles. Especially vermicelli. I would always choose noodles over rice! Hehe…this dish is a one-pot meal that I tried to create with my own recipe and style. 

I hope you like it J 

What you need [Cooks for 5-6]

- 2/3 pack of Vermicelli/Bee Hoon (Pre-soak it for 20mins in warm water)

- 1 bunch of chives (cut to 1.5 inches long)

- 1 handful of bean sprouts (add more if you want more ‘crunch’ factor)

- 3 pcs of fish cake (sliced)

- 5-6 tbsp of Fermented beans / Tau Jiu (pounded)

- ½ kg of prawns (peeled & left the tail)

- Tau kwa (optional)

- 2 tbsp Heinz chilli sauce

- 4 tbsp tomato sauce

- 6 tbsp of onion (grinded into paste)

- 1 tbsp of garlic (grinded)

- 2-3 tbsp of grinded dried chilli paste (add more if you want more kick J)

For the seasoning (adjust to your preference according)

- 1.5-2 teasp salt

- 1 teasp sugar

- A sprinkle of kicap manis

For the Garnishing

- Egg omelette using 2 beaten eggs (optional)

- A handful of fried shallots for garnishing

Method

- Heat 3 teaspoons of cooking oil in your wok

- Sauté the grinded onion & garlic mix until fragrant

- Add in the grinded chilli

- While the sambal is cooking, prepare your omelette in a smaller pan

- Add in the pounded fermented beans

- Cook for 15mins or until the oil starts to separate from the chilli

- Add in the prawns & fishcake and stir-fry for 3-5mins

- Cut your bee hoon shorter with a scissors

- Add in the bee hoon and stir-fry for about 10mins

- Add in the bean sprouts and chives and stir-fry for another 5mins

- Lastly, roll up the omelette & cut into strips and garnish with fried shallots

Serve hot & enjoy J

Bubur Chacha a.k.a The Lancing Dessert

This is something that I love since I was young when my mum cooked for us. Now it’s my turn to cook it for my elder daughter Falisha. She’s only 4 years old but simply loves it!

Why the name? I cooked this during that Mummies’ gathering and after chit-chatting with them, the thought of some Aunties can’t pronounce the letter D came to my mind, and because it’s Bubur ‘Chacha’ I thought of them saying ‘go lancing’ instead of ‘dancing’. Hence the nonsensical name came out but I luv it! Muahahaha… 

What you need [Cooks for 4-6]

- 4 pcs of sweet potato (diced)
- 1 box of coconut milk
- 2 big pcs/chunks of gula melaka
- ½ to ¾ teasp salt (adjust to your own taste)
- 1 tbsp of sugar (add this if you want it sweeter)
- ½ packet of sago
- 1 stalk of pandan leaves
- 750ml of water (add more water if you prefer to have more ‘soup’)

Method
- Boil the stalk of tied pandan leaves in a pot for 8mins
- Add in the sweet potatoes and boil for another 8mins
- Add in the sago, ¾ of the coconut milk, gula melaka and salt and boil for 15 mins
- Stir occassionally
- Once the sweet potatoes are often, it is ready to serve!

Serve hot or cold J

No-bake Nutella Cheesecake

During my maternity leave, I had a small gathering at my place with some Mummy friends so I decided to surprise them with this self-created dessert. This is a very simple no-bake dessert that everyone can do J

What you need [ Makes about 6 med-size dessert cups ]

For the biscuit crust
- 12 pcs of McVities biscuits
- ½ bar of butter

For the cream cheese

- 4 tbsp of Nutella (add more if you like the taste to be stronger)
- Icing sugar
- 1 bar of Philadelphia cream cheese (room temp)

For the toppings & deco

- Sliced peaches

- Fresh strawberries (Sliced)

- Mini dessert cups (I got mine from Daiso)

Method

Making the crust

- Mash/process the biscuits till it resembles fine crumbs. For me, I put the biscuits
  into a big ziplock bag and crushed it with something hard, like a pin roller or a mug,

  with a small folded towel underneath it on the kitchen top 

- Melt butter in the microwave and mix well into the crumbs. Make sure all the 

  crumbs are thoroughly coated by the melted butter or else it won't harden when 

  chilled. If the crumbs looks still dry and powdery, melt a little more butter and 

  adjust accordingly

- Fill in the crumbs mixture into the dessert cups to about 1cm height

- Place the cups into the fridge and chill till harden (at least 2 hours)

Making the Nutella cream cheese
- In a big mixing bowl, whip cream cheese and the icing sugar (sieved) till

  thoroughly mixed
- Scoop a small portion of the cream cheese into a dessert cup
- Add in ¾ teasp of Nutella and stir with a small fork to create swirls
- Repeat the same for the rest of the cups & chill for 3-4 hours or till the

  cheese hardens

Preparing the dessert deco
- Slice the fruits into small neat pieces

- Make sure the fruits are almost 'dried' if they are direct from the cans
- Get ready to decorate your cheesecake with the fruit toppings
- Chill for another 30mins

Create your own style of Nutella cheesecake! Nice and freshing dessert :)

Chinny's Chicken Mayo Delight

This mini appetizer is something great for home parties and mini gatherings. Small yet yummy and looks appealing too!

What you need [Cooks for 4-6]

- 1 Baguette from Delifrance (Sliced to 1cm thickness)

- 2 pcs Chicken fillet

- Mayo (Your own preference)

- Cucumber (sliced)

- Tomato (sliced)

- Chicken picnic ham

- A tbsp of butter

For the Seasoning

- Pepper

Method

- Heat a table spoon of butter in the frying pan (I use my trusty HappyCall) and pan grill the chicken for 10 mins or till it turns tender

- Let cool before you chop the chicken fillets into fine dices

- Add in the mayo & pepper and mix well

- Decorate your mini appetisers as desired

Note: I toasted my baguette for that extra crunchiness J

Yummalicious Mee Soto

This is one of my all-time favourites! It's a real easy-peasy dish to prepare. However, the 'troublesome' part is actually making the bagedil (potato balls) that goes GREAT with Mee Soto. So yummy, you can even eat it on its own. You can see bagedil in almost every Nasi Padang stall. Mee Soto will taste alil' weird and incomplete if you dun eat it with them. Heheh...Warning: It can be very addictive, once you pop, you can't stop! 

Sorry I kept forgetting to blog about this :P

Now here it is!

What you need [Cooks for 5-6]

- Yellow noodles
- Bean sprouts
- 1kg Chicken wings/drumsticks
- Mee Soto paste (Mine is from the wet market)
- 3-4 tbsp of tumeric powder
- 6 tbsp of onion (grinded into paste)
- 1 tbsp of garlic (grinded)

For the Garnishing

- A handful of Chinese parsley (Chopped)

- A handful of Spring onion (Chopped)

- Fried shallots

For the Seasoning
- 2 teasp Salt
- 1 teasp Sugar

Method
- Heat some oil in the frying pan and sauté the garlic for 3 mins
- Add in the onion and continue to cook for another 3mins
- Add in the Mee Soto paste, tumeric powder, 3 tbsp of water and stir-fry 
  till fragrant
- Add in water (my paste instruction states 1litre) and bring to a boil
- Add in the chicken and boil for 15mins or till chicken is tender
- Throw in a tbsp of fried shallots to make your soup more fragrant!

[Making The Mee Soto Chilli]

What you need

- 8-10 stalks of red chilli padi

- 2 stalks of normal red chilli

- Kecap manis (use less of this if you prefer to have a thicker chilli paste)

Method

- Pound/blend the chilli to a paste

- Add the chilli paste to the kicap manis and mix well

[Making Bagedil]

What you need [Makes about 15pcs]

- 4-5 potatoes

- 100g of minced beef

- ½ teasp salt & a dash of pepper

- A sprinkle of fried shallots

- 1 egg (whisk to mix the egg white & yolk thoroughly)

Method

- Boil the potatoes in water till soft

- Once cooked, mash them up (I used my pestle and mortar)

- Stir-fry the minced beef in a pan with a tbsp of cooking oil / butter and mix 

  into the mashed potatoes

- Sprinkle the fried shallots, salt & pepper and mix well

- Roll the mashed potato into 1.5 inches-wide potato balls and flatten it slightly

- Dip the bagedil into the egg and fry it in hot oil till golden brown

Blanch the noodles and bean sprouts, add in all the toppings and serve hot!

Hay Bee Hiam with French Beans

Recently I suddenly felt like eating hay bee hiam (sambal cooked with dried shrimp). I've never cooked it before, so I though why not give it a try. Using my HappyCall Pan to cooked was a breeze! Saved me alot of time. Hehe...And because it was my 1st time trying to cook it, I didn't wanna make too much, just in case the taste was 'off'. LOL...the next thing I know, Hubby said he didn't have enough of it! Haahaha...he requested to cook the same thing the following week :)

What you need

- French beans (cut into about 5cm-strips ‘sharply’)

- Fishcake (sliced)

- Onion (grinded into paste)

- Garlic (grinded into paste)

- Dried shrimps – Hay-bee (grinded)

- Dried chilli paste

For the Seasoning

- Salt

- Sugar

Method

- Heat some oil in the frying pan and sauté the garlic for 3mins

- Add in the onion and cook for another 3mins

- Add in the grinded dried shrimps and cook for 10mins

- Add in the chilli paste and add a pinch of salt & sugar for taste and continue to stir-fry till the chilli paste darkens and becomes drier

- Add in the French beans & fish cake and mix evenly

Serve with hot steamed rice :)

SG Zi Char Hokkien Mee

This dish has always been a good option on days when you don't feel like cooking much. Since it's a dish so rare for me to find at any good halal Zi Char stall, I might as well cook it my way. It's an easy one-pot meal to satisfy the hungry stomachs with all ingredients so easy to prepare :)

What you need

- Yellow rounded noodles / yellow flat noodles

- Chicken thigh meat (cut to smaller pieces and marinated)

- Fishcake (sliced)

- Fishball (halved)

- 1 tablespoon of finely-chopped garlic

- Chye sim (cut into 4-cm stalks)

- Bean sprouts (optional for that extra crunch)

- Prawns (peeled and left the tail on)

- Fried shallots & seasoned green chopped chilli

Seasoning

- Sesame oil

- White pepper

- Dark soya sauce (premium quality ones)

- Salt

- Sugar

Method

- Saute the chopped garlic with some cooking oil till golden brown

- Cook the chicken meat for about 10mins

- Add in all the seasoning and adjust taste according to your preference

- Throw in the prawns and cook till they turn 80% orange

- Add the chye sim and stir-fry for about 5mins follow by the fishcake/fishballs

- Add in the noodles and stir well till the noodles are coated with the dark sauce

- Add in the bean sprouts and cook for another 5mins

- Add another dash of pepper

Garnish with fried shallots and serve hot!

Hot & Steamy Lo Mai Gai - Glutinous Rice with Chicken

I've been thinking about making this for a longgg time, but I kept having this mentality that's it' gonna be very hard and super tricky to do. After a long time of procrastination, I finally gathered the courage to do it and I lurve it :)

What you need

- 500g of glutinous rice (To soak overnight)

- Chicken thigh meat (cut to smaller pieces and marinated overnight)

- 4 dried shitake mushrooms, add if desired (To soak overnight)

- 1 tablespoon of grinded garlic

- Small round aluminium trays

Seasoning the rice

- 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce

- White pepper

- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil

- 1 teaspoon of fine sugar

- 1/2 tablespoon of light soya sauce

- I cup of water

Marinating the chicken meat

- Sesame oil

- White pepper

- Oyster sauce

- Some honey

Method

- Pour away the overnight water from the rice and wash a couple of times

- Pour away the overnight water from the mushrooms, cut away the stalks and 

  slice thinly

- Add in all the seasoning into the rice & mix well

- Steam the rice for 15mins

- Bring out the rice from the steamer and fluff it up with two forks

- While steaming the rice, prepare the chicken and mushroom to be used

- Heat up 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil in your HCP, sauté the garlic till fragrant

- Add in the mushroom slices and stir-fry for 10mins

- Add 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce (thick & good quality one)

- Add in ½ teaspoon of sugar & a dash of white pepper

- Add in the chicken and cook for another 10mins

- Set aside 

Prepping the Lo Mai Kai

- Put a layer of the chicken & mushrooms at the bottom of the tray

- Spread some rice on top of the ingredients till the top is even

- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of tap water on every tray

- Steam the rice for another 15mins

  Steam longer and sprinkle abit more water if you prefer your rice to be gooey

Serve hot!

{Chinny’s Chicken Soup for the Soul}

This is an all-time favourite comfort food for me. Something simple to have when I dunno what else to cook. It's my own version now, as since young my Mum has been cooking this but with pork ribs instead. This is my Halal version. I've been a Muslim-convert since I was married in 2007, so this is my way of having Mum's food without her cooking it for me. Hahaha...

{Chinny’s Chicken Soup for the Soul}

What you need

- Potatoes (cut into bite-size pieces)

- Carrots (cut into bite-size pieces)

- Mid-joint wings (I marinated the chicken with oyster sauce, sesame oil,white pepper & some honey the night before)

- Tomatoes (quartered)

- 1 whole clove of garlic

- Fried shallots & Chinese parsley for garnish

Seasoning

- Chicken stock (concentrate or the stock itself)

- Sesame oil

- White pepper

- 1 teaspoon of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of salt; adjust to your own taste preference

Method

- Boil the carrots in a pot of chicken stock mixed with water for 10mins

- Add the seasoning to the soup

- Throw in the potatoes and continue to boil for another 10mins

- Add the garlic and chicken to boil with small-med fire

- After 15mins, throw in the tomatoes and boil for another 10mins

- Finally add a dash of pepper when you off the fire on the stove

Garnish with fried shallots & chopped Chinese parsley & serve hot with a bowl of nice & hot steamy white rice!