Curry Fish Head

My yummy Monday dinner... Curry Fish head, one of the popular dish in Singapore.


Aunt's Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 no Fishhead (split into half and season with 1/4tsp vetsin & 1tsp light sauce for 1/2 hr)
200g Lady fingers
200g Egg plant (cut into desirable size)
150g Onion (cut strips)
10nos Shallots (sliced)
200g Chilli base
30g Nonya curry powder (add water to form paste)
1no Lemon grass
3seeds Cardamon
1/2tsp Nutmeg
220ml Coconut milk
450ml Stock
500ml Water
100g Assam/Tamarind paste (mix well w/100ml water & strain to discard seeds and to get 4tbsp assam water.

Seasoning:
1tsp Salt
1tsp Vetsin
1/2tsp Sugar

Method:
1. Use 2 tbsp oil fry onion, shallot & lemon grass till aromatic.
2. Add chill base, fry for awhile follow by curry paste, cardamon, nutmeg powder, stock & water. Stir well till boiling and add half portion of coconut milk, vegetables, assam extract and seasoning.
3. Bring to boil, simmer till vegs are cooked.
4. Dish out the vegs, leave the gravy in the pot.
5. Place fishhead into pot & balance coconut milk, simmer till cooked.
6. Add back vegs to mix well and heat through. Ready to serve.

Cornflake Cookies

A very wonderful & easy cornflake cookies recipe by Do What I Like. I always love cornflakes cookies but have been looking around for a good recipe. Thank Florence for this great recipe and is defintely a keeper for me. This will be included in my CNY bake but I have to make it smaller, last night I made it too big not so presentable. The cookies were so crunchy and buttery with a hint of orange fragrant. Super Yummy!!!

Two Eggs Nai Bai

My aunt version of this popular restaurant dish but using only 2 types of eggs instead of three.


Ingredients:
600g Nai Bai/Spinach
1no Salted egg (separate yolk & white, cut yolk into small pcs & beat the white to add into the sauce)
1no Century egg (cut into small pcs)
2cloves Garlic (crushed)

Sauce:
300ml Stock
100ml Water
1/4tsp Sugar
1/4tsp Salt
2tsp Sesame oil
2tsp Wine
Pepper

Method:
1. Heat oil to fry garlic till fragrant.
2. Add nai bai to fry till half cooked. Dish out.
3. Place the sauce, yolk & century egg into wok, bring to boil.
4. Add in nai bai. Stir till veg is cooked

Fishhead & Bittergourd w/Preserved Black Bean

One of my weekday home-cooked meal last week...


Aunt's Recipe:
Ingredients:
1no Fish head (approx 700g)***
1no Bittergourd (slice thinly)
50g Carrot (slice thinly)
1no Garlic (crushed)
2slices Ginger
1 1/2tbsp (25g) Preserved black bean (Rinse & soak in water for 4-5mins, drain)

***Cut into big pieces, season with 2tsp light sauce, 1/4tsp sugar & 1/2tsp sesame oil for 30mins. Lightly dusted with potato starch & deep fried.

Sauce:
200ml Stock *
1/2tsp Sugar
2tsp Oyster sauce
1tsp Dark sauce
2tsp Sesame oil
1tbsp wine
Pepper
Thickening: 1 tsp cornflour mix w/1tbsp water

*if using water instead of stock, have to adjust the seasoning to taste.

Method:
1. Heat oil to fry garlic & ginger till fragrant.
2. Add carrot & preserved black bean fry till aromatic.
3. Add bittergourd, fry for 2 mins.
4. Add sauce & simmer till bittergourd soften.
5. Add fried fishhead & thickening. Stir well & garnish with cut chilli & coriander & serve.

Two Chef's Eating Place

Last night dinner was at this Zi Char place where Strait Times and quite a few food bloggers been talking about - Two Chef's Eating Place.

It was rather crowded during dinnertime last night but the serving was fast and the price was reasonable. We ordered all the popular and chef recommendation dishes. Here's our order:

Butter Pork Ribs (S$12.00)

Assam Seafood Claypot (S$12.00)

Cold Cockles (S$6.00)

Golden Mushroom Tofu (S$10.00)

Three Eggs Spinach (S$8.00)

My favourite of the above - Butter pork ribs but eat too much a bit ill effect and the cold cockles, very appetizing! The Three Eggs Spinach was not bad but the spinach was overcooked. The tofu a bit too sweet, I would prefer it to be more savoury. Assam seafood was quite spicy and sour, not many can accept the strong spices.

Two Chef's Eating Place
Blk 116 Commonwealth Crescent
#01-129
Tel: 6472 5361
Opening hour:
5pm to 11.30pm (Mon)
11.45am to 2.30pm
and 5pm to 11.00pm (Tues to Sunday)

Durian Swiss Rolls

Recipe from Valarie Kong's Workshop, I tried making it yesterday. It's turn out very well. Yummy! I will try out the creampuff when I'm free next week.

My Leftover Turkey

What did I do to my leftover turkey? Oh for the past few day I'm been using it to prepare my breakfast, lunch & dinner. These were what I did...

My breakfast on friday - Turkey Sandwiches

Simple country loaf toast with Turkey (shredded & mix w/mayo, mustard & black pepper), lettuce & tomatoes. Simple & delicious.

My dinner on Saturday - Turkey Wrap w/Pan-fried stuffing & salad

Tortilla wrap with shredded Turkey, omelette, cumcuber, tomatoes & lettuce. Pan-fried balance stuffing and some green salad to go with. It's look good right? Yes it's taste even better!

My lunch today - Turkey Porridge

Finally today, we finished off all the turkey in this pot of porridge. Aunt used all the turkey bone & wings to boil the porridge and season with salt & vetsin. When it's cooked, remove the bone & stir in shredded turkey. The porridge was so sweet & rich. Very nice!

Heng Gi Goose And Duck Rice

This is our favourite braised duck stall. Very authentic and the 'Lor' sauce was so good. They used to be at Hill street hawker centre. My ex-boss always brought us there for lunch. That was almost 10 years ago and few years ago they had shifted to Tekka Market (presently at the temporary market at Racecourse Road due to upgrading work at Tekka). They still maintain their food standard.

Their braised duck is very different from the rest, their sauce is not the usual starchy type and is real authentic. Their chilli is vinegar based with garlic and it's quite appetizing to dip it with the duck. We always order the duck liver, gizzard, dry beancurb & eggs to go with the duck. Their prices are rather reasonable. Half duck is around S$18-S$20. They start selling at 11am and usually by 2-3pm all their ducks will be sold out.

We have not been there since they shifted to the temporary market. This afternoon we went there for lunch and at the same time checkout where's their new location in the temporary market.

Heng Gi Goose And Duck Rice
665 Buffalo Road
#01-406 Tekka Centre
Tel: 6396 0969
(Cloased on Mon & Tue)

Presently is at Tekka Temporary Market
Along Racecource Road behind Tekka Market
Unit No - #01-154.

Dian Xiao Er At Marina Square

Dian Xiao Er is under The Soup Restaurant Group and the one at Marina Square was their first outlet opened in Jun 2005. Since then they have expanded and now there are a total of 7 outlets all over Singapore. They are famous for their herbal roast duck. Other than their roast duck, some of their dishes are quite good too. 2 of my other favourite dishes are Silver Cod Fish in Superior Soy Sauce & Poached Spinach with Century and Salted Egg.

Last night met up with my friends for dinner at Dian Xiao Er at Marine Square. Only the 3 of us so we just ordered the roast duck, a veg & tofu. A very satisfying meal as all of them are good.

Angelica Roast Duck - S$22.80 (M)

Seafood Tofu - S$12.80 (S)

Sweet Pea & Celery w/Cuttlefish - S$10.80 (S)

Dian Xiao Er
6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-203 Marina Square
Singapore 039594
Tel: 63371928
Website: http://www.dianxiaoer.net/index.aspx

Christmas Day Dinner At Home

On Christmas day, we invited 2 of our friends, uncle's family & brothers over for dinner. Other than the Roast Turkey and stuffing, I cooked some other food too.

Our Christmas day dinner menu:
Starter: Pan Seared Prawns & Radish Salad w/Citrus Dressing

Side dishes: Korean Kimbap (I did this specially for my friend,Hoon)

Main Course: Roast Turkey in brown gravy w/Mushroom Stuffing, Roast Rosemary Potatoes & Cranberry Marmalade

Dessert: Molten Lava Chocolate Cake w/Vanilla Ice Cream

This Christmas I had put all that I learnt from Chef Yong's X'mas workshops to use. My family and friends really enjoyed the dinner and especially the dessert. They were so full but each of them still managed to finish their dessert. Next year I will definitely roast a turkey again. It's so yummy!!!

My First Home Roasted Christmas Turkey

My first home roasted turkey on Christmas Day this year. We were having a family dinner at home on Christmas Day. I prepared a Traditional Roasted Turkey for them. Recipe from Chef Yong's X'mas workshop.

We always thought Turkey meat was very hard and dry but actually not so. I think home roasted turkey taste better than roast chicken. It's tender and juicy. All of them were rather impressed by the tastiness. Thank you Chef Yong for your wonderful recipe.

I was so amused by it and didn't really take any nice picture of the turkey. Here's some of the photos:

Christmas Roast Turkey

Mushroom Stuffing

I bought the smallest size turkey (about 8-10 pound) and it can serve up to 15 people. So we still have some leftover which I plan to use it for my sandwiches.

All Time Favourite Tibit - Keropok!

Keropok is my family & friends all time favourite tibits. As my grandma was from Terengganu where Keropok was rather famous so since young my favourite snack was Keropok. We prefer the fish and melinjo(belinjo/bitternut) nut crackers.

My aunt knew we love it very much so she will always fry for us. She will replenish the container once a week for us. Whenever my uncle or bro come over, they will have some to bring back too. Home-fried are fresh and not oily. We used Knife Brand peanut oil and after frying still baked it in the oven for few mins to drain out excess oil.

On Christmas day, they came over for dinner so my aunt fried a lot for them to bring back. 2 of my friends came over too and they jokingly said that was their door gift for X'mas dinner.

Fish Keropok (Fish Cracker)

Belinjo Nut Keropok (Bitternut Cracker)

Christmas Gifts Exchange

This year received quite a few X'mas presents from friends and colleagues. Thanks for their sweet little thoughts for remembering me on this X'mas Season...

My gifts exchange from my friends on our Pre-Christmas Party:

From my colleagues on X'mas Eve:

Christmas Eve Lunch - Bibik Catering Services

On Christmas Eve, my company had a X'mas Eve Celebration for staff. The caterer for the day's lunch - Bibik Catering Services.

Our menu for the day:

Menu B S$19.90 Per Person ( 12 Courses)

X’mas Starter
- Assorted Sushi Platter

DIY Festive Delight
- Turkey whole Roasted with Stuffing

Hot Entree
- Honey Baked Chicken Winglet & Drumlet
- Authentic Mutton Rendang
- Fragrance Cereal Prawn with Curry Leaf
- Grilled Mackerel Otah wrapped in Banana Leave
- Broccoli with Assorted Mushroom
- Spaghetti with Chicken Bolognaise Sauce
- Buttered Rice topped with Raisin

Snow Dessert
- Christmas Truffle Log Cake
- Assorted Nonya Kueh





My favourite for the day: Mutton Rendang, Buttered rice, nonya kueh & log cake. The rest were so so only. BTW the buffet was halal.

We had a fun filled time with all our fellow colleagues and bosses. The highlight for the day was our Special Guest - Santa Clause. The event ended with $15.00 gift exchange.


Bibik Catering Services
518 Macpherson Road
Singapore 368212
Tel: 6280 0898
Fax: 6583 5518
Email: enquiries@bibikcatering.com
Website: http://www.bibikcatering.com/default.htm