Flour Vermicelli 面线 （麵線）Hokkien Mee Swa

April 6 and April 8: Cos of cough, I'm advised by nurse to avoid fish and chicken. Hence,I'm taking the risk to use minced pork and canned chicken broth for this dish (as I am also getting sick of having all my soup tasting full of veges... :S ), and to prevent any morning sickness syndrome, I've added ginger to remove as much as possible, the "meaty" and "oily" taste of a usually tasteful dish. Hence, no sesame oil or fried onions are used to make this dish even more tasteful. :P

Ingredients:

• Tomatos x 1 at $0.225 (High in Vitamin C, and contains A, B... http://www.cookingnook.com/facts-about-tomatoes.html)
  
• Xiao Bai Cai x 2 at $0.40 (Rich source of minerals e.g. iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium, Vitamin K,C,E,... http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbsuperfoods/a/greensnutrition.htm)

• Minced Pork x 1/4 cup (I bought at $2.00 that can cater for about 5 servings) at abt. $0.40 (fat, sodium and protein.. http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/generic/lean-pork-mince)


• Flour Vermicelli x 2 bundles at abt. $0.28 (1 box contained 10 bundles, average priced at abt. $1.40 per box)


• Swanson Chicken Broth x 1/4 can at abt. $0.36 (1 can abt. $1.38)


• Ginger x 1 inch long at abt. $0.075 (bought 1 stem at $0.30 which can be used for abt 4to 5 times depending on the about of ginger you prefer)Egg x 1 at abt. $0.27 to 0.55 depending on the brands (good source of vitamins, protein and minerals, e.g. iron, calcium, phosphorus http://www.organicfacts.net/nutrition-facts/animal-products/nutritional-value-of-egg-and-egg-white.html)


• Total Cost (min: $2.01, max: $2.29)

OR

"on the 8th, I've run out of eggs and Xiao Bai Cai, hence, I dumped in the bean sprouts and spring onions that I've found in my fridge instead)"

• Spring Onion x 2 stalks at abt. $0.10 (High in Dietary Fibre, Vitamins A, C, ... http://www.great-workout.com/nutrition/vegetables/spring-onion-nutrition-facts.cfm)



• Bean Sprout x 50 g at abt. $0.10 (Vitamins A, B, C, E.. free from cholesterol.. ideal for anyone counting calaries.. .http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/29536/mung_bean_sprouts_nutritional_value


• Total Cost: $1.54

Method

I was having difficulties searching the right recipes for this dish as search for "vermicelli" or "Mian Sian" or "Mee Sua" kept returning me the wrong results such as those fry vermicelli (Dang1 Hun4) or spicy Mee Sua) and was already going to try mixing and matching the recipes I've found to get the soup Mian Sian that I want when to my surprise, inside the box (for the Sim Soon Fat Flour Vermicelli), was a copy of the directions for cooking in traditional chinese. It was a challenge to read as I am too used to English and simplified Chinese but skimming through it, it was a reassurance that this wouldn't be another disaster meal :P ).

And of course, to prevent another horrible tasting, I use Chicken broth this time round. Though I am supposed to abstain from Chicken because of my cough, I cannot imagine myself trying to down a "salt water vegetable soup" again. :P

1. Boil the egg for about 10 minutes and cut them into halves

2. Prepare the Ingredients concurrently

• Cut Tomatoes into 8 (cut according to your own preference)
• Cut and Wash Xiao Bai Cai (I've only cut away the base as I love long vegetables)
• Flour Vermicelli (as I don't like the "flour taste", I have also rinsed the vermicelli through water)
• Feel and Cut Ginger (I've cut about 4 x 1mm thick ginger to be boiled with the soup as I am afraid of the smell cos of my pregnant condition, remaining ginger used for minced pork)
• Minced Pork (As I'm afraid of the smell cos of my pregnant condition, I rinse the pork through two rounds of hot water, and marinate it with Soy Sauce, Pepper and Finely Chopped Ginger for about 10 minutes)
• Wash and cut the Spring Onions

3. Boil the water for the soup (I added about 1 big bowl - check out the bowl of the finished noodles for reference, of water)

4. Add in the 1/4 can of Chicken Broth (note: You can add more according to your preference. I have only added 1/4 can or lesser as again, I do not wish to have the oily and meaty taste)

5. After the water is brought to boil, add in ginger and half of the spring onions (this is optional) and continue to simmer til you smell the fragrance of the ginger.

6. Add in the remaining ingredients and boil for another 1 minute (for me, I added one more minute as I wanted the soup to taste more sour )

7. Add in the flour vermicelli and boil for another 1.5 minutes.

8. Serve the vermicelli with the cut eggs and sprinkle over the remaining spring onions

Additional Notes:
My Preferred Choice (recommended by Mum and sis' MIL) too

This tasted slightly thicker and more like spaghetti (you may use this if you refer thicker noodles) :

Carrot Porridge and Vegetable Clear Soup

Monday, April 5th 2010: Failed attempt to cook my carrot porridge and vegetable soup upset my stomach so much so.. that I ended up puking again :S

I should have stucked to half a cup of rice instead of 1 cup as stated in the receipe online for a portion of 1 pax. :S In the end, I burnt the porridge :( and all the sweet taste of the carrot is gone. *Sob*

Looking at the vege soup, you would have known why it tasted so horrible. :P I hadn't used any broth at all and it simply tasted like salt water. Ah..kakakak... >_<"

Without much appetite for dinner, I was relief that I could down a packet of Fish and Chips from the coffee shop. The coleslaw and baked beans helped ease the discomfort with their sour and sweet taste too. Hopefully the next round will taste better but I will definitely stock up more ingredients beforehand. :P Cos.. I have completed forgotten to chop the vegetables until very fine and.. I could only dump in what I found in my fridge as I was desperate for some vitamin E and C for my cough. Next round, I am going to try out the recipes and do justice to my tummy!

Vegetable Clear Soup Receipe (1 pax):

• 2.5 cup cup of finely chopped vegetables (e.g carrots, beans, spring onions, cauliflower, capsicum, cabbage, mushrooms)
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 2.5 cups of water
• Salt, pepper
  
  Method:
• Boil the water
• Mix in cornflour with quarter cup of water.
• Pour the cornflour mixture into the boiling water and stir for some time.
• When the water becomes almost clear, add all the vegetables.
• Turn off the heat in 2 minutes, and add the salt and pepper to taste.
  
  

Carrot Porridge (1 pax)

• 0.5 carrot
• 0.5 cup of rice
• 4 cups of water
• 1 stalk spring onion
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
  Method
  
• Wash the spring onion and chop finely
• Julienne the carrot
• Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes
• Place the rice in a pot and add the water
• Bring to a boil, add the carrot and lower heat to a simmer
• Simmer till porridge and carrot are done
• Add the salt and sprinkle the chopped spring onion before serving

Spagetti with Chicken Frank (15 mins dish)

Used to take me 1.5 to 2 hrs! Ha.. why? You may wonder.. such a simple dish.. but not a veteran cook and someone with passion for cooking.. it just took me that long.

After the many failed attempts and trial and error, this dish finally taste more decent and in fact, Yummy! Especially at this period when all food taste or smell too oily, fried, or "fishy"... this sour and sweet dish is very yummy for both bb and mum! :P

• Bring Water to boil
• Add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil and salt
• Add in spagetti and stir (til all noodles are submerged)
• Live to boil for another 10 mins at low heat
• Slice capsicums, tomatos and chicken franks
• Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and throw in sliced ingredient to fry til fragrance is out
• Add in Prego sauce and stir fry
• Drain ready cook spagetti and cool with cold water
• Serve Spagetti with sauce.
  
  Cost (6 adults):


• $0.80 : Capsicum x 2 @ $0.35 per 100 g (bought at wet market, but usual price is abt $0.50 or above at supermarket)


• $5.20 : Prego x 2 bottles 397g @ $2.60 per bottle (bought at Fresh Produce Specialist, current promotion price online NTUC is $2.45, usual price $2.70)


• $2.35: Valley Chef Chicken Franks x 0.5 pack to full pack, 340g per pack @ $2.35 (free contribution from brother in law, latest price obtained from Cold Storage Online)


• $0.50 : Tomato x 3 (bought from Wet market, forgot unit price)


• $1.60 : Maicar Spagetti x 1 pack at 400g @ $1.60 (Econminimart)
  Total Cost: $10.45 ( abt. $1.80 to $2.00 per pax)
  
  
  

Chicken and Baby Vegetable Stir Fry

After weeks of boring and mostly unhealthy outside food, I've tried to make cooking a more routine activity. Although, I also actively monitor the cost and time I've spent preparing each meal.

While pouring through a recipe book which I have bought more than a year back, but never had time to read. I found one that looks interesting enough, healthy enough and easy enough.. but alas.. look at the "discrepancy"!
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 small red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 150 g chicken breast or thigh meat, skinned and cut into cubes
• 2baby leeks (韭葱 jiu cong), trimmed and sliced (for cooking novice like me, check through www.nciku.com for the picture and Chinese name, very helpful when asking the vegetable stall holders (usually Chinese) for the right ingredient)

• 12 asparagus spears （芦笋lu sun）, halved
• 125 g mangetout peas (豌豆wan dou）, trimmed
  

• 125 g baby carrots, trimmed and halved length ways
• 125 g fine green beans, trimmed and diagonally sliced
• 125 g baby sweetcorn, diagonally halved
• 50 ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Toasted Sesame seeds to garnish

• Heat the wok until very hot and add the oil. Add the chopped chili and chicken and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and golden.
• Increase the heat, add the leeks and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the asparagus, mangetout peas, baby carrots, green beans and baby sweetcorn.
• Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes, or, until the vegetables have soften slightly yet retaining slight crispness
• In a small bowl, mix the chicken stock, soy sauce, dry sherry and sesame oil. Pour into the wok and stir. Cook until heated through. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Oops!

• Since I don't have any groundnut oil, I used Olive oil instead.
• My late marketing trip didn't allow me to find baby carrots too, hence, I had 1 big carrot and sliced them into "baby sizes"
• Dry Sherry?! I didn't realise I need this until I was frying! Too late to panic and I skipped it altogether!
• Despite my conscientious effort to check out the pictures, my overtly excitement at finding the leek caught me at the wrong end. Kelvin was asking me about a sour smell and eventually, he revealed the mystery when he realised that I had used lemon grass instead of leek! (horror of horrors)
• I couldn't understand from the recipe, do I only keep the spears of the asparagus? And halved them? However, I find it such a waste to discard the stalks and hence, cut them up into "slim" slices and add them to the dish :P

Once again, I am grateful to my lovely family members who commended on the dish despite all the oops. :P They have been very encouraging and worked very hard to spit out the sliced lemon grass (which supposedly should be edible and chewable leeks).

Thank you for your support and I shall strictly stick to a simple asparagus or leek dish in future. Think I should just try calling Mum's hotline for the recipe. These recipe books really aren't suitable for cooking novice for me.

Noodles with blackbean sauce / 자장면 / 짜장면 / Jjajangmyun (or jajangmyeon, jja jang myun, jjajangmyeon, zzajangmyun, zhajiangmian, jajangmy

Friend intro me to this website with many wonderful Korean dishes recipe. And the most useful part is the videos which help to show the entire preparation process. Very helpful for once again, cooking novice like me!



And I must say, this attempt was a more successful one (except for the noodle which unexpectedly was a little failure as I couldn't understand the instructions on the packaging which were all in Korean) :(



And my very first attempt, is the "Zha Jiang Mian" which I always see the artistes slurping away in those Korean shows :P


http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/jjajangmyun




Oops! (Despite all the pictures, I didn't run through the video before my marketing, alas.. still some oops that lessen the taste of this wonderful dish)

• Cucumber (I forgot to buy :( If you see my picture, I am missing the garnish from the cucumber......)
• To keep it healthy, I replaced pork belly with lean pork. And I guess this is the reason, there is a lack of crunchiness.. I'm thinking.. next round, I will try to use chicken chucks instead :P, as I can't stand that slight lingering taste of the pork.
• This 900 g noodle is sufficient for 6 ppl, whereas the sauce that I have prepared based on the portion stated in the maangchi.com is good enough for 4 ppl. Hence, a bit of off balance.

Cost

• Black Bean Paste, 500 g - $4.20 (I've only used 3 tablespoon. Based on the proportion, this box can still last for another 5 cooking), about $0.70 per cooking
• Yethal Kalguksu Noodle w/o soup bases - $5.50 (serve 6 pax), abt. $3.66 per 4 pax
• Zuccini+Onion+Sweet Potato+Radish - $2.80
• Potato Flour (or Corn Flour) - $1.50, est. about less than $0.10 per cooking
• Misc (Olive Oil + Gas + Water + Others) - $1.00
• Total = $8.26 or $2.065 per pax

"Yohoo! Very near my target of $2 per pax per meal!"

Joke of The Day:

• I was telling a dear fren, if I am successful, the next round, I will invite her to my place. And, I will collect $3.5o from her, and if $3.50 is too expensive, probably $3.00. Think she was rather taken aback by this offer for she replied that it's still cheaper to eat at the foodcourt. Hahaha! Now that I have my new calculation, I think, $2.50 can still beat the foodcourt price!!! ;)

Vegetable (Opps, I forgot the name)

"I love vegetables! They are cheap and healthy! 90 CENT, and I have another dish ready. "

For the loose pieces of garlic and onion, just 40 cent (actually, it should cost even lesser, since most of the garlic were used for that Bak Kut Teh dish :P) ... I am beginning to think, it's not worth the money at all, to order a green vegetable dish when eating outside. A size like this, would cost you about $8 and above :(

MY 1ST ATTEMPT ON BAK KUT TEH

I was actually looking for the Bak Kut Teh Spices Pack that starts with A something...... according to my mum, it tastes the best! So, I was hoping to buy the pack and please her. Who knows... the seemingly simple preparation instructions at the back of the pack tempted me to save the packs for myself :P

Preparation:

2kg pork ribs or meats, 8 pieces of garlic, 2 spoons of black soya sauce, 4 spoons of white soya sauce, 2 spoons of oyster sauce, salt, MSG, 10 bowls (1.5 liter) of water and two packets of A1 Bak Kut Teh Spices (35g). Reduce half of the above ingredients if only 1 kg of meat is used.

(Important: For novice like me, you might be wondering if you need to cut up the spices packets, Pls Don't! )

Cooking Instruction:

1. Rinse pork rib or meat

2. When water is boiled, put in meat and Bak Kut Teh Spices and use medium heat to cook for 30 minutes. Do not add in soya sauce, oyster sauce, MSG and salt until meat is fully cooked.

3. Add pepper before serving.

FACTS

Packing Size: 35g

Serving Size: 17g (1 packet)

Total Serving Per Packing: 2

At the wet market, the uncle told me 1 kg of pork ribs cost $14, I almost flipped! $14?!! And, I had to use 2 kg since I am expecting 4 of us for dinner..... Just the meat alone will cost $28.. if I still need other dishes.. this is going to be an expensive dinner. My budget of $2 per pax, is out......

The super nice uncle then asked how many person do I expect. I said 3 (cos, I have other dishes, so, the soup should just fill up 75% of our stomach). Uncle then said 1kg is about 300 g per pax and it's more than enough.

Hence, I bought 1kg, and, decided to go for half of the ingredient as instructed. But silly me, after I had poured in 5 bowls of water, I thought the water level looked too low to fit in the 1 kg of pork ribs. Furthermore, I'm afraid the water will dry up and we will have nothing left to drink. Hence, I went put in 75% of the stated portion for the ingredient, except for the pork ribs (50%).

What do you think?