curry chicken noodles

OPS primary school classmates came for 9pax dinner on 13.9.2016.^^

i made curry chicken noodles.

looking at my previously blog posts, i served curry chicken noodles to my RI friends-

1. 11pax dinner on 11.3.2013 &
2. shiok home lunch for 9pax friends on 9.3.2015.

the curry chicken noodles were good on both counts. i guess they were served in very small amounts with more of other dishes provided.

curry chicken noodles

for this evening, i also had braised duck, egg taupok tau kua, tau you bak, fried leeks.

chicken & duck were good but noodles a bit disappointing, not enough soup & not spicy & tasty enough.

taupok & egg good, tau kua ok, tau you bak quite good when i took some leftovers, but last evening some parts skin were tough.

veg was not good.

we were chatting on FB afterwards, & i shared-

i used 18 dry chilli..nearly double c/w my usual nonya curry chicken..this though is like a soup NOT gravy so quantity is more than 2x usual probably 3x (my usual gravy)..i used bones from 3 chicken as stock..the soup was actually very tasty though (still) not spicy..however when noodles added taste much diluted..actually the taupok though infused & tasty seemed to take away & dilute the taste of the soup oso…so looks like got to have double the amount of soup or 1/2 the amount of noodles in order to get the taste right.

duck noodles

braised duck was good this evening.

i took out some noodles from the curry chicken noodle bowls & served 2 bowls of duck noodles to 2 friends.

i think duck noodles were very good.

duck noodles

i shared in the same FB chat-

duck noodles i think was good & yours too but you already thought soup was slightly “light” & the noodles in the duck noodles <<1/2 that in curry chicken noodles…so if i were to do 9 bowls of duck noodles it would be the same problem…

lor arh = braised duck

i just used ready made Tai Wah chicken marinate (大华鲁鸡汁) to braise the duck.

so just need to rub the duck inside & outside with 2 tbsp sugar, add whole bulb of peeled garlic plus cut ginger, cover & baste the duck (about 2kg from giant) for 1hr 10mins.

lor arh = braised duck

duck was tender & flavourful (the lor was very “pang”).

lor nerng-braised egg and tau kua

& i used that to make the lor nerng-braised egg and tau kua.

lor nerng-braised egg, taupok and tau kua

lastly cooked the taupok strips & placed over the tau kua.

tau pok was well infused & very tasty.

for tau kua i think they need to be taken with some sauce, so i should add more sauce when serving next time.

duck noodles

i used some of the sauce to make 2 bowls of duck noodles.

duck noodles

so basically the trick is to add enough soup for the noodles so taste would not be diluted=either more soup or more achievable, less noodles.

tau you bak

tau you bak today also not ideal.

though i have made i knew were excellent very tender tau you bak in large quantities for teban gardens & also bread of life community meals, today one piece i tried the skin was tough. though i had 2 pieces the next day & they were all good & tender.

poached chicken 白斩鸡

chicken as usual was good.

i added a bit of tumeric to make it look yellow. this what the hk chefs did for the 黄姜鸡 say at crystal jade kitchen.

poached chicken 白斩鸡

i deboned the chicken.

poached chicken 白斩鸡

& plated it for adding onto the curry chicken noodles.

fish cakes

& made fish cakes.

curry chicken soup

as shared earlier, i had 18 pieces of dry chilli (& 300ml coconut milk), so colour was good, but still not spicy so i will have to add chilli padi next time.

the soup was actually very tasty, but because there were not enough for the noodles, it became quite ordinary. this part need to manage & i will have to reduce noodles to 1/2 or 1/3 for serving in future. it is difficult for me to make more soup.

curry chicken noodles 

it was not really a bad noodles.

curry chicken noodles

but i was not worth the effort, & boiling the bones of 3 chicken for like 15hrs over 2 days.

tea & cute mooncake

my friends brought many things.

especially the homemade “better than outside” durian mooncake…one friend brought back for his wife daughter, the rest start announcing father, mother, son…

one brought 2 pomelos & very nice spanish melo (from australia??).

one brought nice peach.

one brought wine.

another brought orange juice.

& another the tea & cutie mooncake (above photo).

we had karaoke afterwards just connecting the pc youtube to tv. had lots of fun.

curry chicken noodles not to my satisfaction, but overall still great fun to get together with good friends & primary school classmates of 51 years from OPS.

c.h.e.f andy

song fish head, mullet, rabbit fish, dry tipo, vegetables

sis & bil came for dinner this evening on 10.9.2016.

i had mullet乌鱼 & rabbit fish知县鱼 in the freezer. & i was at sheng shiong the evening before & bought one whole song fish head松鱼头 for S$8.90. usually it is S$6.90 for 1/2 at sheng shiong so i don’t buy unless i go to chinatown market where they sell S$8 for one fish head.

made my own spicy black bean sauce for song fish head松鱼头

i had done the spicy bean sauce twice already.

spicy black bean sauce song fish head松鱼头 

this evening i did the best one yet. my sis & bil think it’s better than the ones we had outside. i think so too la…^^

so i had, for 1/2 song fish head松鱼头, a spicy black bean sauce mix of –

• 1.5 heap tbsp lee kum kee spicy black bean sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil)
• 2 tbsp mirin (optional)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp corn flour

i mixed them cold to dissolve the corn flour & tasted the sauce. it was very good.

spicy black bean sauce song fish head松鱼头

i then heat up a bit & the sauce became slight clumpy. i addd to the fish & steamed for 13mins in the steam oven.

fish was excellent as it was very fresh & the sauce was just perfect, spicy, tangy, not too sweet.

hk street chun kee clumpy black bean sauce song fish head 松鱼头

btw, this was also how hk street chun kee at commonwealth crescent food centre make their fish head.

i still have not decided if a slightly sticky, clumpy sauce is the best preparation. will experiment a little on that. 🙂

teochew steamed mullet乌鱼 & rabbit fish知县鱼

today’s mullet乌鱼 a bit small but we had lots of fish already so quite ok. the rabbit fish知县鱼 was ok too.

anyway we teochews all love these fishes, especially eating them with tau jeon, the fermented beans/paste.

so teochew steamed mullet乌鱼, great stuff! ^^

steamed dry tipo 递补鱼

my china relatives sent some steamed dry tipo 递补鱼 to my sis, so she brought me 2 packets + she steamed some for dinner.

it was ok, just slightly tough but not like when my mom did it (50 years ago). must think how to do this. maybe i will boil it for 1/2 hr instead to soften it then add dark sauce, braised & reduced. let’s see.

salted fish with celery

sis brought her favourite celery.

this her signature dish 拿手好菜, very good!

stir fried shanghai greens

& bil cooked the shanghai greens my sis brought also.

lots of food for 3pax dinner. i guess just fish & vegetables, ok healthy la… 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

talk by mr lim siong guan

attended a dinner talk + Q&A by mr lim siong guan on 27.8.2016, organised by a good friend who is the senior pastor of pphbc. 🙂

i had attended a previous talk by dr tan lai yong on 15.8.2015. 🙂

these talks are all quite good… i enjoyed the evening. my close OPS classmate also attended this evening.

secrets to a satisfied life

secrets to a satisfied life

mr lim siong guan is, of course, quite well known in singapore. my friend introduced him with the usual accolades – superman, yoda, change crusader… 🙂

in fact, the straits times report in the link above covered pretty well anecdotes about mr lim & about the book “wining with honour” which he co-wrote with his daughter….

today LSG talking mostly about ideas from his book “winning with honour” about branding, trust, difference between like & love, respect & honour, self actualisation & transcendence etc..

rosalind’s sukiyaki

Rosalind made sukiyaki for >100pax successfully quite a feat!

rosalind’s sukiyaki

it’s literally labour of love, very labour intensive la, cooking one bowl at a time…

a lot of planning & logistics too – the beef & mushrooms, onions, scallions, soup etc…

salute leh…拜…拜…

rosalind’s sukiyaki

the sukiyaki was restuarant standard la…

rosalind’s sukiyaki

soup was not too sweet or thick, very tasty, & the beef & all the sides done excellently.

buffet

i was told they catered for 125pax.

there were 2 huge trays for each dish on food warmers.

food was ok, quite average catered food…

anyway my first queue was Ros’ sukiyaki…

braised belly pork 鲁腩肉 with taupok & tau kua

i was asked to make a dish (always going for kok fai’s event & free dinner…haha)…& Ros was doing the hard stuff like sukiyaki for 125pax???

anyway dinner is catered so the added dishes just for fun, “first come first served she said”…lol! ^^

braised belly pork 鲁腩肉with taupok & tau kua

braised belly pork 鲁腩肉

i had 2 kg of belly pork in crockpot cold on low setting for about 6hrs+, meat thermometer set at 90degC.

marinade was good & flavourful. after checking the texture was what i wanted, placed pork in double ziploc bag in chiller overnight. drained the stock & kept in fridge overnight.

braised belly pork 鲁腩肉

next day removed almost 3 heap tbsp fat from the stock, cut belly pork & heat them in the stock.

tender, tasty & still firm with bite.

tau kua

removed belly pork & boil tau kua in stock.

taupok

lastly boiled with taupok until soft & very tasty infused with the marinade, then put tau kua in aluminimum tray, belly pork on top, then added the stock/braising sauce & taupok on the top.

braised belly pork 鲁腩肉

when i queued after finishing the sukiyaki, belly pork already finished…because it was probably enough to serve 30pax to 40pax… lol! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

wife made brunch

wife made a scrumptious national day family brunch today on 9.8.2016.

brunch treat

i liked every dish la…especially shakshuka & the chorizo…

refreshing salad

nice refreshing salad – rockets, prosciutto, alfafa, onions…

shakshuka

& shakshuka – 7 eggs & cumin..loved it…

we all agreed that the last time was even better though…too much tomato puree this time? not enough cumin? wife said she added lots already…maybe this a much larger portion so balance of taste needed more adjustments…

anyway still very nice la…din stop us from finishing all..

prosciutto

prosciutto nice..flavourful not too salty..

prosciutto & portobello mushrooms

& nicely pan-grilled portobellos…

prosciutto & portobello mushrooms

used to enjoy these a lot at pontini eons ago…mre than 10yrs i think…

din go there after i stopped paying for the M&C hotels “ala carte” card.

smoked salmon, dill & chopped onions

smoked salmon was good too…

chorizo

chorizo the best..we enjoyed chorizo & cheese a lot during our lisbon & porto travels.

these i think wife bought from paris.

chorizo, pumpkin, alfafa

the australian pumpkin very sweet.

wife decided to served in separately instead of with the salad.

nice ciubatta bread from culina

youngest daughter bought some nice ciubatta bread from culina. nice!

wife made brunch

it was a nice leisurely brunch.

wife made brunch

maybe it was lunch…we started like almost 1pm…lol! 🙂

brunch treat

i am about the least keen person in the family with these all day breakfast, brunch, egg bernadette stuff..this one i enjoyed thoroughly, don’t mind having it more often..

c.h.e.f andy

mock kurobuta ribs

daughter invited her friends for home lunch on 30.7.2016. ^^

i organised basically the same menu as what i did for my wife’s friends 2 days before-

1. mock kurobuta pork ribs
2. deepfried chicken wings (by my helper)
3. claypot rice
4. claypot tanhoon prawns
5. steamed soon hock
6. fried sweet peas & baby corn wit prawns (by my helper); &
7. tiramisu

mock kurobuta ribs

the marinade was better tasting today after some adjustment.

the texture was fork tender, which was just slightly not my most preferred texture of being tender but still firm with bite. i did 95degC for 6 hrs & left in for another couple hrs in the oven. next time i will do 95degC at 5hrs.

deepfried chicken wings

my helper’s chicken wings i think are the best chicken wings.

for me it is better than the prawn paste chicken wings at (1)hup choon & (2) forture.

deepfried chicken wings

looked good& she drained the oil also.

claypot rice

claypot rice was the usual very flavourful dish.

tanhoon prawns

tanhoon prawns too. stock was very flavourful.

i am looking around to see if i can get other brand of tanhoon. currently using happy family. ok but looking to see if i can get better.

steamed soon hock

soon hock ready to put in steam oven.

steamed soon hock

steamed soon hock hong kong style.

today i thick texture slightly over, not the best la…

prawns, sweet peas, baby corn

helper’s sweet peas & baby corn always good, and she added prawns this time too.

i did this dish for the teban gardens friday breakfast community meal too.

i chatted with daughter’s friends. they all had a good time. one of them cooked a bit & used a sous vide machine, more advanced than me la…i still happy with using oven as proxy…

c.h.e.f andy

acrylic abstract art gift

wife invited her group of close friends, & i make claypot rice dinner for 8pax this evening.

we had-

1. claypot rice
2. claypot tanhoon prawns
3. mock kurobuta pork ribs
4. steamed soon hock
5. fried romaine lettuce (by my helper)
6. fried sweet peas with baby corn (by my helper); &
7. tiramisu

ice jelly

a friend brought ice jelly 👍👍.

it was very good. very light & refreshing & perfect with the blueberries & basil seeds.

there was an extra tub. wife left 1/2 in the fridge the next day & i finished it.

another friend brought very sweet honey jackfruit👍👍

seafood paella

pork ribs, seafood apella & garlic squid

made 3 dishes this evening-

1. seafood paella
2. grilled & slow braised pork ribs (new recipe)
3 sauteed garlic squid with egg yolk

mock kurobuta pork ribs

the 3 dishes were not comparable with foc in the looks department of course.

mock kurobuta pork ribs

still, though i used frozen prime ribs from sheng shiong, i think flavour & texture wise it almost approximates the kurobuta ribs at foc, so it was very good ribs.

this a new preparation i created, will post the recipe later.

mock kurobuta pork ribs

i charred/browned the pork ribs before the fine braising in a 95degC oven for 5hrs.

so pork ribs were very tender, and i also created a very tasty marinade.

mock kurobuta pork ribs

i tried to brown the ribs again after braising, so it blackened a bit from the marinade.

not decided yet whether this step is necessary. if i do it then i will wipe off the marinade first.

sauteed garlic squid with egg yolk

the sauteed garlic squid had too much sauce need a bit of adjustment. taste was quite good though nothing special.

i didn’t think foc squid dish was special in any case, but still a good dish to have for group dinners & will try to improve it.

seafood paella

paella was very tasty, rice texture was ok but maybe should make it a bit harder in the middle

seafood paella

i vary it a bit from my seafood risotto dish par excellence.

instead of frying the prawns & squid in butter, i just added to the rice before putting in a 210degC oven.

seafood paella

& i added some butter to the rice at the end of cooking & turning off the fire.

seafood paella

prawns were tasty & great texture & flavours.

seafood paella

sotong was also tasty & just right.

the dish could not compared with the really excellent seafood risotto par excellence i made previously which almost approximate miky’s.

c.h.e.f andy

claypot rice

my claypot rice is becoming quite popular. ^^

wife arranged a dinner for her sis, hubby & son & her brother & sil. together with my youngest daughter we had 8pax this evening on 16.7.2016. 🙂

everyone loved the claypot rice. it was really flavourful. wife’s sil, this the second time she trying it, said you couldn’t get this flavourful claypot rice outside. chicken was very tender, smooth & flavourful, because of very slow gentle steaming & smokey flavours from the claypot.

quite a perfect dish though there is always slight variations. today just very slightly wetter c/w the last, but wife preferred it so. for me, dryer better, but this ok too.

in fact i am pondering whether i can cook this dish in a large pot for bulk, not claypot, so it will lose the smokey flavours, but will still be a very tasty kamameshi like rice dish (which are very slightly wet presentation c/w claypot rice). will check up on kamameshi recipes later.

claypot rice, tanhoon prawns & fine braised pork ribs 

i also had claypot tanhoon prawns & fine braised pork ribs.

today though my tanhoon texture was not good enough. became a bit mushy after absorbing the stock.

my stock estimation was a bit over, so after adding the tanhoon i was not able to reduce the stock enough. instead of trying to reduce stock more, i should have left the tanhoon undercooked at the stove (so texture would be perfect at the dining table even if its was a wetter version). something to learn next time.

claypot rice, fine braised pork ribs & romaine lettuce

my fine braised pork ribs was quite perfect today.

fine braised pork ribs 

very tender but still firm with bite after 5hrs in 90degC oven & 45mins steaming.

just as important, the marinade was very tasty, very nicely flavoured. i think a really wonderful pork rib. steaming added quite a bit of moisture so i reduced the marinade before adding back to the ribs.

HK steamed red garoupa

HK steamed red garoupa

my wife’s sis is vegetarian who takes fish but no other meat & no eggs.

so my helper made nice HK steamed red garoupa.

sweet peas with baby corn

she also did 2 vegetarian dish.

sweet peas with baby corn always an excellent dish, very tasty & sweet.

stir-fried romaine lettuce

& the romaine lettuce too.

tofu cheese cake 

i made a tofu cheese cake which wife’s sis liked too & they brought back the remaining cake. i did not have mascarpone cheese to make tiramisu which was just as well as she does not take eggs.

today’s tofu cheese cake wasn’t done well & the gelatine did not hold the shape of the cake as well when cutting the cake. taste wise it was nice mildly sweet & tangy, smooth as usual.

a fun & quite easy family dinner with my helper making 3 dishes.

c.h.e.f andy

6-course lunch for 6pax

did a 5-course lunch for my OPS primary school friends on 8.7.2016. ^^

6-course lunch for 6pax

we had 6-course lunch for 6pax –

1. fish head curry (using CH’s curry mix)
2. spicy black bean sauce song fish head
3. salted egg prawns (the sauce WM & J provided)
4. salted egg sotong (the sauce WM & J provided)
5. kueh chap from tampines 844 (WM brought)
6. fried kai lan

salted egg sotong, salted egg prawns, fried kai lan

quite excited about the salted egg prawns & sotongs.

salted egg sotong, salted egg prawns, fried kai lan

first time doing a real salted egg dish (using for the first time a sauce given to me by WM & J), having done only once a failed one using actual salted eggs.

fish head curry, salted egg prawns, fried kai lan

just gotten the curry sauce from a friend CH few days back.

we had very nice fish head curry at CH’s place on 6.6.2016.

the curry sauce mix was made for him by his friend & he gave me a tub.

fish head curry

i made a good fish head curry myself. usually i used Mak’s instant fish curry sauce.

in fact, fish head curry was the main item in a recent RI FGS (For Goodness Sake) Charity Dinner at an architect friend’s on 20.5.2016 that raised S$16,948 for HCA Hospice.

fish head curry

for today’s lunch i have not used the mix before so needed to figure out the quantity to use but otherwise it’s the same recipe.

fish head curry

with tasting& some adjustments, the curry was very good actually.

another friend WT tasted before serving & taste was good. i thought so too. 🙂

fish head curry

but there was a “miss” which CH pointed out – not enough sauce.

basically i should have used just 1/2 a head instead of both halves & lots of vegetables which absorbed & crowded out the sauce.

recently i had a really enjoyable small RM22 fish head curry (shared by 2…there were 11 of us so we ordered 6 fish head curry) at “kam long” in JB.

the curry was NOT better than what we had today & the fish head was inferior in freshness & sweetness. however the experience was much better for me as there were a lot of curries (i drink it, very shiok la!)

so this something for me to adjust the next time i cook fish head curry.

spicy black bean sauce song fish head松鱼头

spicy black bean sauce song fish head松鱼头 was good.

i made the sauce myself mixing lemon juice, olive oil, mirin, light soy sauce, corn flour & lee kum kee spicy black bean sauce. i like the sauce myself.

for me its better than the fish head we had at sik bao sin recently.

that may not say much as i din think sik bao sin’s fish head was too good.

currently my fish head though still some way off, cannot match the very good ones at hk street chun kee etc.

spicy bean sauce song fish head松鱼头

another adjustment to make is that there is too much condensation in the steam oven so the sauce became a bit diluted. & there is no time for me to reduce the sauce in a pan to make it right.

one logistic challenge with cooking several dishes for a bigger group is that it is NOT quite possible to do “stove to table” service. this means there’s planning for pre-cooking & reheat.

i didn’t have this issue when i served an excellent steamed soon hock recently as the condiments were just right even with the condensation. so it simply means i have to make this spicy black bean sauce thicker to cater for the condensation.

salted egg prawns

it was fun for me making the prawns, even though i generally hate to do deep-frying – a lot of wastage of oil & additional cooking steps.

deepfried prawns for salted egg prawns

this time, i shortcut the process by mixing the prawns in a mixing bowl with fish sauce, white pepper, 1 tbsp corn flour, 1 tbsp plain flour, 1 egg yolk & just mix.

this way cut out the inconvenience & messiness of dipping the prawns in cornflour, flour & egg yolk before frying.

it worked well, as can be seen in above photo! ^^

and then it’s just to fry cut chilli padi + curry leaves in the salted egg mayo sauce mix, then add the prawns to coat.

& voila!

salted egg sotong

same with the sotong.

i used sea salt instead of fish sauce.

salted egg sotong

sotong just that little bit more tricky as it becomes rubbery when overcooked, and you don’t want to eat undercooked sotong.

salted egg sotong

so it’s try & error.

in this case though, luckily one try not much error. i think the texture was just right! 🙂

a friend brought kueh chap from tampines 844

a friend brought nice kueh chap from tampines 844.

a friend brought kueh chap from tampines 844

i enjoyed the kueh chap, it is not better than other places though.

like say happy dick at bukit merak view food centre

nor better than my own very good  kueh chap, me think!

fried kai lan (rescue job)

the fried kai lan was a rescue job.

i tried to do a dry version, high heat, fish sauce, drizzle some stock…was trying to manufacture the wok hae. didn’t work out that way…when i tried it, the veg was a little bit “siap”.

so back to the wok, actually i first mixed cornflour with some stock in the wok to disolve, then heat up wok to reduce. at the end i added the kailan, off fire & coat the veg.

the final product was not bad la…passable, quite tasty & texture alright not overcooked.

a friend made kueh kaya

another friend FM brought nice kueh kaya.

i don’t particularly like nonya kueh…the one that i always like is the kueh lapis sagu 九层糕.

this one though i like, not too sweet, not so much glutinous rice. one friend WM said the glutinous rice a bit dry & hard, quite true..overall nice! was eating it the next day also. ^^

banoffee (banana toffee) cake

i made a banoffee (banana toffee) cake.

banoffee (banana toffee) cake

ok cake, nothing special la…

banoffee (banana toffee) cake

WM thought the caramel layer not enough, can be sweeter. usually i like it less sweet, but in this case quite agree also.

it was a very fun lunch & i got to test out the new curry mix & the salted egg mayo sauce. pretty fun!

after that some left. 3 of us went & had some coffee & drinks.

c.h.e.f andy

homecook dishes 

my filipino helper made some simple homecooked dishes this evening on 27.6.2016.

really delicious! ^^

my helper cooks for the family most times when we are eating at home, and i am not experimenting some dishes.

chilli prawns 

the chilli prawns were excellent!

medium prawns from chinatown very fresh.

i think she used a thai sing ikan bilis chilli sauce. very easy, quick & really shiok!

chilli long beans & fried tofu 

& the chilli tofu & fried bean curd were really “them” nice la…

so tasty. i think she used another thai sing chilli sauce…i usually find out only if i want to cook the dish la…

chilli ocra 

& her chilli ocra very nice too. she did not use my gimson nonya sauce so it was a different taste, but no less nice….

we also had a soup & steamed fish.

nice home dinner.

c.h.e.f andy

7 dishes + steamed soon hock later

my OPS primary school buddies came over for a 12pax homecooked dinner on 23.6.2016. ^^

i did 8 dishes + dessert.

7 dishes + steamed soon hock later

dinner menu

#1 claypot rice
#2 claypot tanhoon prawns
#3 crab beehoon
#4 chilli crab
#5 fine braised pork ribs
#6 steamed soon hock
#7 白米粉
#8 ocra in nonya sauce
#9 choc banana cake (dessert) 

claypot rice

i make an awesome claypot rice.

most recently-

• a super “pang” fragrant claypot rice for 5pax family home dinner on 17.6.2016.
• a 9pax claypot + crabby lunch for my RI buddies on 7.6.2016.

claypot rice

i usually cook about 2.5cups for claypot rice, obviously not enough for 9pax lunch or 12pax dinner.

hence added 3 other dishes with carbs – claypot tanhoon, crab beehoon & white beehoon (WBH)白米粉.

for this evening i cooked 3 cups rice. still a delicious, excellent dish everybody liked, but not quite as wonderful as the previous 2.

claypot tanhoon prawns 

the claypot tanhoon was superb la! ^^

very nice peppery taste with coriander flavouring & whole garlic. plus i added quite a bit of thinly sliced belly pork, all i fried till fragrant before adding stock.

i used a fried prawn heads & shells stock & added a very intense chicken stock (from 2 chickens + carrots). & i only added the tanhoon & topped with cooked prawns when the guests were here & ready to serve.

this the second time i cooked this dish. first time was some days ago just to test out the dish.

will post a recipe later! ^^

claypot tanhoon prawns 

i fried the prawns with shells in butter first.

prawns were quite good, but next time i will cut out this step & just precook the prawns in the claypot stock first la…

claypot tanhoon prawns 

its really a wonderful dish & quite easy to make.

the tanhoon were so infused with the pepper, stock flavours, very tasty la…

i was doing the final cooking for several dishes only when all arived & ready to serve, so forgot the garnishing.

just throwing a few coriander stalk will make the dishes even more appealing la.

crab beehoon 

the crab beehoon was my very first attempt.

it was really excellent, very intense & flavourful.

i had a stock base of chinese cabbage to balance the shellfish taste, then added the same prawn stock as the tanhoon prawns plus a lot more intense chicken stock. it was a big dish with quite a bit of beehoon so needed quite a lot of stock.

several friends liked it better than the white beehoon because it was more intense. for myself i like both.

crab beehoon 

i bought 4x500g crabs at chinatown market @ S$30/kg for the 2 crab dishes this evening.

i did not want to get the larger crabs (there was only 1 other option as the only larger crabs the women had were like 600-700g crabs) as it is easier to manage smaller crabs (cracking the pincers etc) & i thought 2x500g crabs were ok for 1 dish.

crab beehoon 

same thing like tanhoon prawns, i precook the crabs.

then when all guests arrived, just added beehoon into stock & braised (infused) & added the crab last.

crab beehoon 

beehoon was super & crab was ok.

chilli crab 

the chilli crab i did 1 hr+ beforehand. couldn’t manage so many dishes even though just the final cooking when all arrived.

i knew my chilli crab sauce was good, tasty. but as some friends mentioned the crab meat seemed to have like “disappeared” 散去a bit.

chilli crab 

so this dish not quite satisfactory to me….need to improve.

i think i will try to get 800g crabs next time, and only cook when guest arrived.

it may seem like there is no difference why not just cook when guest arrived anyway.

but in fact, there will always be errors in preparation, and when a dish is done in ample time, there is time & focus to rectify, adjust the taste. whereas if everyone is waiting for dinner, it is rushed & unless everything turns out perfectly, there is unnecessary stress & we will forget things in a rush. my cooking philosophy is the whole process must be a very relax, fun, enjoyable one so i plan the dishes & preparation in a way that there will not be last minute rush & stresses.

chilli crab & ocra in nonya sauce 

i had an ocra dish with nonya sauce. easy to do, can be done a bit beforehand & real easy stuff.

fine braised pork ribs 

the fine braised pork ribs deserved a special mention here. 🙂

i had the motivation to reproduce a really tasty & tender pork rib dish after tasting my friend’s dish at the OPS potluck dinner on 21.5.2016.

fine braised pork ribs

even though the above 2 photos did not look as nice as the ones i had in the recipe post, in fact the pork ribs were super tasty & tender.

i am very happy with this dish! ^^

for purpose of photography, it would be better to serve on a dish with bits of simmering sauce like the photo in the recipe posts. haha! 🙂

steamed soon hock

i was deciding on hk steamed song fish head or 金香鱼头.

the latter requires deep-fry which i avoid if i can. & song fish head is fishy not for everyone.

steamed soon hock

happens that when u bought crabs the day before, i also bought a soon hock.

so i did a hk steamed soon hock, 11 mins for about 700g fish, about S$10.

steamed soon hock

very very nice fish, meat so so tender 幼 but firm like red garoupa not mushy like seabass.

by comparison, it’s finer more幼 than red garoupa and same sweet fish.

white bee hoon 白米粉

this the second time i made white bee hoon 白米粉.

i decided it was not worthwhile making 三楼米粉. for me both are essentially the same dish same preparation.

but for 三楼米粉you need to crisp the beehoon. so it took really quite long & more precise, to me quite unnecessary effort to produce almost similar results (but got crispy beehoon outside).

& also to have it flat & crispy it is difficult for the big quantity i had. i would have to fry 2 times or serve a small dish (1/2 the size).

white bee hoon 白米粉

So, white bee hoon 白米粉 it was!

white bee hoon 白米粉

& a very good one at it. 🙂

very tasty. it did not have the shellfish flavours like the crab beehoon as i only used chinese cabbage base + chicken stock, but it was very tasty.

to me as good as tampines 844.

wiped clean

all the food were wiped clean! 🙂

red dragon fruit

a friend brought red dragon fruit.

very sweet & good texture.

lychees

another friend brought lychees the small seeded 糯米荔枝, very nice.

& a friend brought a big bag of very sweet mangoes for me. not ripe yet so we did not take this evening.

ah seng durians

i bought 13.6kg MSW 猫山王 musang king durians from ah seng.

ah seng durians 13.6kg

durians were really wonderful.

ah seng durians 13.6kg

why buy in malaysia at RMB50/kg when you get like almost guaranteed good MSW from ah seng?

ah seng durians 13.6kg

my friends only opened 5 boxes. so i kept 1 box & got 2 others to bring 1 box each back.

ah seng durians 13.6kg

i really enjoyed these ah seng MSW durians.

a most fun evening with good friends from primary school going 50/51yrs!

c.h.e.f andy

claypot rice

made claypot rice for 5pax family home dinner this evening on 17.6.2016. ^^

rice was super “pang” fragrant, and as seen in above photo, separate not sticking, whole, unbroken, well coated & very tasty with the flavours of the chicken, lak may (腊味) aka sausages, mushrooms & salted fish.

this evening was among the best claypot chicken i made. very shiok!

claypot rice

same recipe.

today i used whole chicken (recipe was 1/2 chicken).

claypot rice

chicken was supremely tasty & tender because of the slow smoking/steaming in the claypot about 45mins for whole chicken.

claypot rice

we cleaned up every bits la…

claypot tanhoon prawns

my first claypot tanhoon today.

flavours were excellent, the pepper, coriander, shiok!

will post a recipe later.

claypot tanhoon prawns

i fried chicken fat with black pepper & ginger, then added some belly pork, fried prawns (deveined still with shells) till 90% cooked, & few stalks of coriander.

i removed the coriander & prawns, then combined 3 cups chicken stock & 3 cups prawn stock & reduced; and set aside.

when about to serve, i added the tanhoon & tossed to thoroughly mix, put the prawns on top, & let it steamed over low fire for 10mins.

the dish was ready for 15-20mins before all arrived, so flavours good but tanhoon a bit overdone, so on my next try i will undercook the tanhoon a bit.

stir-fried romaine lettuce 油麦菜

stir-fried romaine lettuce 油麦菜

stir-fried romaine lettuce 油麦菜 is a/my standard stir-fried vegetable dish.

quite perfect this evening.

everyone enjoyed the 3 dishes. had a great, wonderful evening together. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy