From our local wet markets, I can easily find cheap and fresh corns year-round. So, I always buy some to keep. Before storing in the fridge, I wrap them un-husked with plastic wrap. This helps them to remain fresh for a week or two.   Fresh corns have wonderful natural sweetness. They are also versatile cooking ingredients. Thus, I love to add them to my soup. Previously, I had shared some corn...

  Hazardous haze, caused by open burning at plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia, has been enveloping Singapore, parts of West Malaysia and some Indonesian cities recently. For some parts of Malaysia, the pollution index hit a record high and emergency had to be declared, forcing schools to close and people to stay indoors. As the smog headed north reaching Kuala Lumpur late last week, it’s now our turn...

  I am a great soup lover, and will always be. Nothing can be more comforting than having my stomach filled with a bowl of hearty and nutritious homemade soup during mealtime. So do my hubby and son. I think it’s already in our “Cantonese” genes.   Lately, the weather in Singapore has been hot. So drinking soup is a great way to replenish the fluid losses in our body. Speaking of...

  Homemade fish stock makes a great soup base for soups, congee, rice, braises, stews and sauces. It gives any seafood-based dish an immeasurable flavour even to the simplest recipe. Apart from flavour, it is extremely nutritious too as it’s a rich source of gelatin and minerals that our body requires. This is further mentioned by by Sally Fallon (author of Nourishing Traditions) in her article titled...

  Burdock is a biennial plant, cultivated for its root to be consumed as a vegetable. Burdock root 牛蒡 (other popular names: Arctium lappal, Greater burdock, edible burdock, Lappa burdock) is also called “gobō” in Japan and “u-eong”u-eong” in Korea. When I first saw burdock root at the wet market, I had mistaken it with a tuber called huai san 淮山 or shan yao 山药...

Unlike adults, when babies and toddlers develop phlegm, it usually takes longer for them to clear it. One reason is they do not know how to split out the phlegm. Even my 5 year old son is still unable to do so even after teaching him how to do it. So far, he only managed to split out saliva, but not the phlegm. The only consolation is he knows how to clear his blocked nose. I, like most parents, have been...

  Over the past two months, Singapore and Malaysia are hit by dry spell with no sign of abating anytime soon. Although it’s usually hot this time of the year, but it’s particularly bad this year. The weather is extremely hot and humid. I could feel the heat penetrating my skin when I went out to fetch my son from school at noon. Even walking under the shades along the pedestrian walkway,...

  Mushrooms provide a lot of nature’s hidden treasures. Amongst them are anti-oxidants, B-vitamins, copper, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin D. For further reading, please refer to this link. It is also featured as one of the new superfoods for women in the July 2009 issue of Health Magazine.   Over the past one year, I am finding more and more variety of fresh mushrooms being sold at supermarkets...

  It was only in recent years that cordyceps militaris/ chong cao hua (虫草花), a Chinese medicinal herb became increasingly popular among Chinese traditional medicine practitioners, nutritionist, chef, and even homemakers. I was first introduced to it by my mother-in-law recently.   Translated literally into English, it means “worm grass flower”. But it is neither flower nor grass, nor does...

Do you know that childen’s song can be used as an effective and influential tool in promoting a healthy diet to toddlers? It may sound weird to some people, but it really worked for my son. “An apple a day keeps the doctor (x4), A-P-P-L-E” – is a song my son learnt from his playgroup that had successfully changed him from one who rejected apple into one who is now an avid...