Two year ago, when I was just starting to cook for my family, a friend of mine made a strong recommendation that I visit Rasa Malaysia’s food blog for its recipes and cooking ideas. When I browsed thru her blog, I was very amazed by her stunning shots and high level of professionalism in food presentation, not to mention her cooking and baking skills. Since then, I had been following her blog closely...

Lady finger (also known as okra) is a powerhouse of valuable nutrients, nearly half of which is soluble fiber in the form of gums and pectins. According to Ms Sylvia W. Zook, Ph.D. (nutritionist), this versatile vegetable has many important health benefits as belows: 1) stabilizes blood sugar level 2) binds cholesterol and bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver. 3) prevents constipation 4)...

It has been a while since I featured the step-by-step instructions on “how to make a smooth & springy fish paste”, and only recently have I found the time to make them again. With a few batches of fish paste stored in my freezer, I started browsing thru my collection of cookbooks to look for new fish paste recipes. Amongst them is a recipe I had tried that ended up with the most satifying results. It...

From young, soup has been served regularly in my family’s daily diet. As far as I can recall, my mom has been boiling different types of Chinese soups almost every day. After I got married, I too enjoyed all the home-boiled soups of my mother-in-law. Now, as a “minister of home affair cum head chef”, I continued with our family’s tradition to boil soups for the family as my son is a big fan of soup....

Luo Han Zhai*/ Loh Han Chai＾ (braised mixed vegetables) is a popular home-cooked vegetarian dish during Chinese New Year. As it uses a lot of ingredients which require braising, the preparation is tedious and time-consuming. For the recipe, please refer to my earlier post. (* – pronunciation in Mandarin / ＾- pronunciation in Cantonese ) Although “lam yue” (南乳 fermented red beancurd) is used...

Taro (芋头 , yu tou) is commonly used in Chinese cuisine for a variety of dishes ranging from main dish to dessert. Some of my favourite taro dishes are: braised pork with taro (芋头焖猪肉), taro/ yam rice (芋头饭), steamed taro cake (芋头糕), taro puffs (芋角) , taro nest/ yam ring (“fatt put”) and sweet taro puree with gingko nuts (白果芋泥). In my 1st attempt to cook with taro,...

Have you seen a TVB Hong Kong cooking show called “SO FAR 苏 GOOD”? It is hosted by Susie Wong (苏施王). I love watching her show as she is straight-to-point, sprinkled with lots of typical Hong Kong humour. When I first chanced upon her show, she was teaching a group of newly wed couples (all inexperienced in cooking) on how to make the perfect scrambled eggs with tomatoes (蕃茄炒蛋). Although...

During Chinese New Year, the most popular dish in Cantonese’s cooking is braised dried oyster/ ho si (蚝豉) with black moss/ fat choy (发菜). Both of these ingredients sound auspicious in Cantonese’s pronunciation. Ho si means good business（好市）whereas fat choy means prosperous (发财). Besides braising, dried oysters can also be used in porridge and soup. Today, I will share with you my mother-in-law’s...

Before posting the photos I shot in Penang, I would like to begin my 2009 posting with a food recipe. Do you like salad? I never have a chance to made one so far as my Emperor is not supportive enough for this idea. But after all the Christmas and New Year festive celebrations, I desperately need one now. Remember what I mentioned in my last post? It is my 2009 New Year resolution! As we know, another festive...

Out of all the cooking methods, deep-frying is the least preferred cooking method for me. Why? Besides health reasons, I want to minimize my cleaning job. But this doesn’t mean I am totally rejecting deep-frying food. I don’t mind to eat it once in a while if it is done by others. Hehehe! This fried shallot is the only deep-frying dish in my entire recipes. I made it on a weekly basis as I need the flavoured...