Kalimeris Indica & Tofu Salad

Kalimeris Indica & Tofu Salad (in Chinese: 涼伴香乾馬蘭頭) is one of my favourite Chinese cold dish. This cold salad dish originated in Shanghai. It is also a popular appetizer in restaurants.

Ingredients:
Kalimeris Indica (馬蘭頭) - 250g
Dried Tofu (豆腐干) - 2 pieces
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
Sesame Oil - sprinkle

Method:

1. Wash Kalimeris Indica, boil it for 2 minutes. Drain the water, let dry & cool.
2. Chop the Kalimeris Indica after it is cold.
3. Cut Dried Tofu into tiny pieces
4. Mixed Salt, Sugar, Sesame Oil, Soya Sauce, Kalimeris Indica, Dried Tofu together.
5. Can put everything in the fridge after mixing, and serve when you want to eat it.
   

Cooking Tips:
Kalimeris Indica must be well drained & dried before chopping.


Kalimeris (Chinese: Ma-Lan-Tou) is a small genus with 8 species from the sunflower family. The genus occurs mainly in eastern Asia (China, Korea, Japan). The foliage is herbaceous. The blue-green leaves vary per species and are smooth tectured. The can be narrow and long, round and large teeth or lobed.

It usually grown on riverside or roadside, thus, people also called it "sidewalk chrysanthemum".

People eat Kalimeris Indica because it is highly nutrition. Besides protien, fat, carbohydrate, it also contains rich inorganic salt & vitamins. Its Vitamin A contents is higher than tomato, while Vitamin C content is higher than mandarin orange.

It is believed to be good for the liver, eyesight, and can control blood pressure.

Taipei Travel Guide Book

I came acorss this Taipei Travel Guide Book when browsing around in bookstore in Hong Kong. By far the best Travel Guide Book to Taiwan I've read, even if you're not on a budget. It describes both the well know sight seeing places, and many great restaurants, some of them out-of-thay-way local eateries. One could hardly find them without a book.

Although it is written in Chinese, but you don't actually need to read Chinese to use the book. My Ang-mo friend found it so handy by just looking at the pictures. He simply showed the book to taxi driver, and pointed to the address written on it.

Seriously, this kind of guide books are very popular in Hong Kong and Japan. I wonder why there's no English version, and I couldn't find it in Singapore! It's just so handy and easy to use.

But don't worry. I found out a link here, where you can buy the book directly from Ming Pao online.

Carrot Onion Soup

The best method to clear up old vegetables in the fridge, instead of throwing them away, is to make SOUP! I had a very delicous Carrot Onion Soup in a Christmas Market in Dresen (Germany). It was very lovely. So, with 3 pieces of old carrots in the fridge, which don't taste good for frying, I decided to make this soup!

Ingredient (4 servings):
3 pieces Carrot
1 whole onion
1 chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon Dill
1 litre water



Method:

1. wash & peel the carrots, cut into big pieces, put inside a pot.

2. wash & peel onion, cut into 4 pieces, also put in the pot.

3. add one litre of water, chicken stock cube, butter & dill all in the pot, bring to boil, then cook for 30 mins with slow heat.

4. turn off the fire. when the soup cool down, pour everything into a blender and blend till smooth.

5. pour the blended soup back into the pot, and cook for another 15 mins under slow heat.

Cooking Tips:

• I don't like to put flour into soup. To make it thicker, you can add more carrots. If you like to thinner (more soupy), then add some more water to dilute it.
• carotene is oil soluble, but not water soluble. It's good to add oil when cooking carrots, so that the carotene will be easier for the body to absorb.

Roasted Portabello Mushrooms with Garlic, Butter & Cheese

Meaty portobellos are topped with garlic, butter & cheese. Great for appetizers. It is very simple & easy to make! I made it last week and even my 11-year-old neice love it!




Ingredients:

6 Portobellos Mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Butter
Spread Cheese
Dried Basil Leaves (optional)

Method:

1. Wipe mushrooms clean and remove stems.


2. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 220 degrees C (425 degrees F).


3. Place mushroom caps, gill side up, on baking sheet.


4. Brush butter on each cap.


5. Put garlic on each cap, then spread cheese to fill the cap .


6. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted.


7. Sprinkle with basil and serve (optional).
   

Mother's Recipe: Soya Sauce Chicken

Today suddenly want to eat Soya Sauce Chicken, so I tried out this recipe from mom. It turned out great!




Ingredient:

1 Whole Chicken
5-6 slices Ginger
4 pieces Shallot (peel & cut into half)
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Soya Sauce
1/2 cup Rice Wine
1 piece Anise
1/2 tea spoon Salt
1 table spoon Oil
1 cube (about 5x2x1 cm) Black Sugar Cube (can be replaced by rock sugar)

Method:
1. Wash & clean the chicken. Cut and throw away its head, neck, ass and fat part. Then cut into 6 big pieces.

2. Throw in Shallot, Ginger, Anise, Black Sugar & Water into a pot, bring to boil.

3. Mix Soya Sause, Rice Wine & Salt in a bowl, pour into the pot after the water boil, turn to slow heat (simmer).

4. While boiling the sause, use high heat to heat up a wok with oil, seared the chicken for 5 minutes (each side around 2.5 minutes), until it's skin turn golden yellow, half cooked.

5. Throw chiekcn into the boiled Soya-Sause-Pot, bring to boil.

6. Cover the pot, boil for another 3 minutes.

7. Switch off the fire, and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes. The longer you simmer the chicken, the deeper in taste. Best result is over one hour.

8. Cut the chicken into small pieces when it's cool down. Boil remaining Soya Sause, and pour ontop of chicken when serve.

COOKING TIPS

• To chicken taste tender & moist, Do not use strong heat to boil the chicken, it must be simmer.


• Don't put the Soya Sause in the pot too early, or else it will burn.


• If you want the chicken looks darker in color, add some dark Soya Sause.


• Can use a scissor instead of knife to cut the chicken when serve, or tear out the meat by hand.

Fusion Roti Prata (Indian Bread)

Restaurant Name: Mr. Prata


What will you think of when you feels like eating Indian Food? Probably nan bread / roti prata / some spicy curry? Now in Singapore, you can taste fusion Indian food, an encounter of the West & India: Cheese Prata & Ice-cream Prata! You can even find interesting mix of prata flavour here, such as garlic, banana, chocolate, durian, etc. Whatever you can think of. Mr. Prata started business since 2005. This 24-hour eatery located near to the Botanic Garden, not too convenient, but still have lots of customers, you can imagine. Many customers purposely drive here to eat. All pratas are freshly made upon order.

Roti Prata wrapped with mushroom, ketchup, minced lamp, mozzarella cheese. Taste like pizza. An interesting mix however prata was not crispy enough.

Roti Prata with thick Peanut Butter spread, top with ice-cream and sprinkled with chocolate. SGD3.50. An very interesting texture... warm prata vs. cold ice-cream; salty prata vs. sweet. Have to eat it fast, otherwise the prata became soft & it wasn't very nice by then.

Mango Lassi (SGD3) was nice, wish they use a better looking glass for that instead of a plastic one.

Phone: +65 62356993

Address: No. 26 Evans Road, #01-02, Evan Lodge, Singapore 259367.

How to get there: near Botanic Garden, 30 mins walk from Orchard MRT, or take a taxi from there.

Bak Kuet Teh (Pork Rib Soup)

Restaurant Name: Ng Ah Sio Bak Kuet Teh (黃亞細肉骨茶)


"HK CEO Donald Tsang was in Singapore for a 3-day state visit and thought it would be a good idea to wrap up his tour with supper at the famous Rangoon Road Ng Ah Sio Pork Ribs Soup Eating House. Unfortunately the lady owner had different idea… she refused to open beyond the operation hour (6 am to 2 pm) to cater to the V VIP and his entourage." This front page news made this already famous local eatery splashed all over the international medias. Personally, I don’t fancy the Singaporean styled Bak Kuet Teh too much. I love the Penang styled with strong herbs and dark coloured soup.

Bak Kuet Teh (SGD5) with free top up of soup. For the soup, I think pepper taste was too strong, while the soup base was too plain without much herbs. The prok ribs taste a bit little those soup leftovers from mother's soup... too soft & tasteless.

Pig's skin (SGD2) was nicely stewed though, tasty & soft while still keeping the richness in "plastic", rich in cologin.


Stewed Pig's leg with Peanuts (SGD5), good but not fantastic, just normal

Pig's Liver Soup (SGD5) also very normal, same soup base as the Bak Kuet Teh, nothing amazed me.

Opening Hour: 6am – 2pm (Closed on Monday)
Phone: +65 62947545 / 62946500
Address: No. 208 Rangoon Road, Singapore 218453.
How to get there: 10m mins walk from Little India MRT.