Scrumptious Seafood Soup

My own creation. Sorta. In Malaysia, there's this soup called Sea cucumber soup, which is expensive and not home-made usually. I love sea cucumber soup so super much and everytime I eat it at the restaurant, I would be paying attention to what ingredients the chefs used. I would try to cook the soup at home, substituting sea cucumber for other seafood, such as crab meat and shrimp. I love it so much I can eat it everyday! Now, let's see you have a try.

Ingredients:

-- 2 sticks of artificial crab meat (usually in a packet, it comes in 8 sticks), chopped finely.

--6 to 8 large shrimps, deveined and peeled, cut into small pieces.

--2-3 shiitake mushroom, soaked in a bowl of water til softened. Then, cut them into small pieces.

--About a cup of ground pork.

--2 cloves of garlic, diced.

--4 cups of water or more depending on how much soup you want to cook

--1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

--1 teaspoon of salt, or more, to taste.

--Some black pepper (optional)

--1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of water, mixed.

--1 egg, beaten.

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil on medium-high fire in a non-stick pot.

2. When the oil is warm (put your hand over the pot and if you can feel the heat, it's warm enough), stir in the garlic til they turn slightly brown.

3. Then, stir in the ground pork and stir-fry it til it's no longer pink.

4. Stir in the artificial crab meat, shrimp, and mushroom. Stir fry them for about 30 seconds.

5. Pour in the water and turn the heat up to high.

6. When the soup starts to boil, turn the heat down to medium and pour in the cornstarch mixture. Stir lightly and you will see that the soup has thickened.

7. Pour in the beaten egg and stir immediately and vigorously for a few seconds. Be careful not to spill or burn yourself.

8. Turn off the heat and season the soup with salt and pepper. If you use chicken granule, it's okay too.

Tips: 1. This soup needs your attention almost constantly. You have to be careful of the heat so as to not let the soup boil over. I had to remove my pot from the heat a few times because the soup was boiling over. to prevent that from happening, try cooking it at medium or medium-high fire and not let it boil too long after you pour in the cornstarch mixture.

Feedback and questions are always welcome. Happy Cooking!

Sharon ~

Mapo Tofu

So I tried to write about a dish on my iphone just the other day but for some reason iblogger quit on me and I didn't get to save what I was typing! Sorry for taking so long to blog about the things I cooked recently but I had been quite busy with school and had not been very diligent in cooking. Anyways, I have a few more posts coming up soon.

A couple of years ago I tried cooking a Sze Chuan (a province in China) dish called Mapo Tofu. I failed horribly. The tofu and ground pork turned out tasting pretty nasty for whatever reason I can't recall now. I ended up throwing the whole dish away because just the smell of it was enough to cause nausea. I never tried cooking it ever since, that is, until a few weeks ago I came across the Mapo tofu paste in a chinese shop in Provo, Utah. I decided since my cooking skill has improved since the failed attempt two years ago, I should redeem myself this time.

A couple of days ago, I finally took out the paste sitting in my pantry and used it. I was pretty nervous about it but it turned out to be DELICIOUS! My jaw dropped when I tried a tiny piece of tofu. It was a miracle!! My husband and mother-in-law loved it too.

On the side note, Mapo tofu is a great way to take away the blandness of the tofu. It's so worth the try.

Ingredients:

--A packet of Mapo tofu paste (there are many kinds. It doesn't matter which kind you use).

--A packet of extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes.

--4 oz or a cup (if you must know the exact measurement, check the converter on the side) of ground pork.

--Some spring onion, chopped.

--A teaspoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of warm water. (If the paste that you buy has already included a small bag of potato starch, then skip this).

--2 teaspoon of vegetable oil/ cooking oil

Instructions:

1. Heat the non-stick pan with the oil on medium-high fire.

2. Stir fry the ground pork til it starts to turn from red to brown.

3. Stir in the tofu and the packet of Mapo Tofu paste.

4. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.

5. Pour in the cornstarch (or potato starch) and stir the mixture.

6. Throw in the spring onion and stir fry for about 30 seconds.

7. When the paste is boiling, remove from heat.

Happy Cooking!! This is a must try!

Dutch Pear Pie

I have never had a pear pie before, so I thought I would try this recipe. It was actually pretty good! Not my favorite, but good! I would recommend at least trying one good pear pie in your life.

Makes: 8 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 1 hr 40 min

CRUST
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed by box

FILLING
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
3 cups coarsely chopped fresh pears (2 to 3 medium pears)

CRUMB TOPPING
1 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine

INSTRUCTIONS
1..Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Place pie crust in 9-inch glass pie plate; do not prick crust. Carefully line pastry with double thickness of foil, gently pressing foil to bottom and side of crust. Let foil extend over edge to prevent excessive browning. Bake 10 minutes. Carefully remove foil; bake 2 to 4 minutes longer or until crust just begins to brown and has become set. If crust bubbles, gently push bubbles down with back of spoon.
2..Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix filling ingredients. Pour into warm baked pie shell. Mix crumb topping ingredients with pasty blender or fork until mixture looks like fine crumbs; sprinkle evenly over filling.
3..Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until top is light golden brown. After 30 minutes of baking, cover top of pie with foil to prevent excessive browning. Cool at least 30 minutes before serving. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.

I try to make one dessert a week, so I have two more to show! Stay tuned!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

This dish is so easy and so good to make. It is so delicious, even my husband loves it. The first time I ate this I fell immediately in love with it. I spent years looking for the recipe because I was so dumb to not ask for the recipe when I had the chance to at first. Now that I have this recipe, I just can't wait to share it with you guys! Definitely give it a try.

Servings: 4-5 people

Ingredients:

--1 cup of celery, diced. (If you hate celery, use broccoli)

--Half cup onion, minced.

--2 tablespoon butter

--2 cans of cream of chicken soup. (You can use chicken and mushroom soup too!)

--Half cup milk

--1 1/3 cup of mayonaise or salad dressing

Combine and mix thoroughly all the above ingredients in a large bowl.

--3 or 4 chicken breasts or fillets

--3 cups rice, washed.

--4 cups water.

Instructions:

1. In a 9x13 pan or a baking dish, pour in rice and water. On top of the rice, arrange 3 or 4 chicken breasts or fillets.

2. Pour the mixture evenly over the top of the chicken and bake in oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees farenheit.

Tips: 1. If you are pressed for time, you can cook this dish in the rice cooker using the same method. It only takes about 40 minutes.

2. If you are cooking for 2 people, cut all the ingredients measurement in half.

Happy Cooking!

Sharon

Onion Beef

This dish I am going to share is one of my tried and true recipes. It's something I would bring to a potluck dinner and get praises from. It's also really easy to make.

All you need to have are (for marination):

--beef, chopped into bite size pieces.

--2 to 3 cloves of garlic, diced.

--1 teaspoon of soy sauce

--half teaspoon of garlic salt, if you don't have it, just use normal salt.

--a few dashes of black pepper

If you can, marinate all of the above items in a bowl overnight. If you are pressed for time, then just dump everything in a bowl, mix them well before you cook it.

You'll also need:

--half of an onion, chopped into small pieces.

--1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan on medium high fire.

2. When the oil is warm enough, stir fry the onion til it gets soft and slightly yellow-brown.

3. Dump in the marinated beef and just stir fry til the meat is cooked.

That's it! Very easy and delicious. It should only take about 10 minutes to cook this.

Have fun cooking!

Sharon

Tom Yam Pork and Veal Meatballs with Mushroom

Asian food is my favourite. Therefore, I love creating my own Asian food even though some of the original recipes are Western food. LOL. This dish was supposed to be tossed with creamy mushroom sauce. However, I choose to use Tom Yam. If you love some spicy and sour food, Tom Yam paste is good to go with.

Ingredients:

Pork and Veal Meatballs ( You can find it in Woolworth if you’re in Australia)

Mushrooms

Tom Yam paste (any Asian store)

1/3 cup of water

Chives

Let’s Cook:

1) Cook meatballs on a preheated frying pan with some cooking oil at medium heat until cooked thoroughly.

2) Add the mushrooms when the meatballs turn golden brown.

3) Add the cooked meatballs with Tom Yam paste and the 1/3 cup of water.

4) Make sure to continuously stir until boiling.

5) Top dish with chives and serve.

It is a simple dish. Hope you like it!!

There are many types of TomYam paste. Choose anyone if you don't have your preference.

Enjoy!

Ivy ~

Peanut Butter Cookies

I know I post way too many desserts...but they are what keep my buoyed up in life! I can't live without the sweets. :)

Here is a favorite family recipe of mine; peanut butter cookies!


Makes: 3 dozen

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1..Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix margarine, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar together.
2..Mix in egg.
3..Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in with mixture.
4..Place on cookie sheet and press down balls of dough with a fork.
5..Bake about 7 1/2 minutes.
6..ENJOY!