Category: Home-cooked food

My mil can whip up a very good chicken dish of Sam Pei Jie, a Taiwanese dish. This dish comprises of chicken, basil leaves, ginger, garlic and Chinese cooking wine. Now that she’s away for a few months, my girls’ meals are fully taken care of by me – 3x a day! And I’m talking about 3 fussy eaters. 3 of them have different preferences and different favorite food. The most pernickety is Alycia. And of course the man of the house!

Coming back to this Sam Pei Jie chicken dish. It was my first time trying out this dish and I am very glad that the dish turned out really delish – exactly like how my mil cooks it and even better that the one from Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant, ahem 😀

I got the thumbs up from my 4 fussy eaters and a rating of 10/10 from my #1 critic – Alycia.

Will definitely cook this dish again and this time, I shall add more basil leaves to add more minty flavor to the dish.

No. of times viewed = 278

If I prepare simple sustenance for lunch, I’ll ensure that there is something more ‘proper’ for dinner. If my girls have sandwiches or porridge for lunch, I will prepare dishes that are more meaty like braised pork ribs, chicken or fried fish for dinner.

Braised pork ribs with yam is one of the more popular dishes among my 2 older fussy eaters.

The pork ribs were marinated with 5-Spice Powder, pepper and soy sauce for over 3 hours before cooking. I garnished the dish with lots of spring onions and julienned cool cucumbers to give this creamy and meaty dish a more refreshing taste.

Alycia, my no. 1 food critic gave me a rating of 10/10 for this dish HAHA!!  This fella is normally very stingy with her rating and to get a 10/10 for a dish, you must try it to believe the rating 😀

No. of times viewed = 309

My kids are getting fed up with having fried noodles, fried rice, noodles, pasta and spaghetti for lunch. So I whipped up sometime different for them – Chicken Terriyaki sandwich complete with lettuce, mayo, cheese and cucumbers…. Subway style!

I marinated the chicken breast fillet with some Kikoman Terriyaki sauce and black pepper, then pan fried them till brown.

Spread the walnut wholemeal bread with Tesco brand mayo (made with free range eggs and made in Belgium – cheap and yummy!). Then put a piece of organic butterhead lettuce, a slice of terriyaki chicken, a slice of cheese and topped with Japanese cucumbers.

A complete meal with protein from the chicken, cheese, walnuts from the bread, fibre from the veggie and wholemeal bread and carbs from the bread. I got thumbs up from my 3 fussy eaters and orders for more 😀

No. of times viewed = 202

As I was reading the newspapers the other day, I came across a very delish noodle dish that I was very sure my fussy kids would love. Plus it’s simple to prepare too. So the same week itself, I whipped up Jar Jiang Mien.

Ingredients needed are:
– Minced pork
– Julienned carrots (for garnishing and meant to be eaten raw. However, I partially cooked the julienned carrots so that they are easier for the kids to swallow)
– Julienned raw cucumber (for garnishing). Advisable to use Japanese cucumbers as they have lesser seeds.
– Chopped spring onions
– Bean paste (tau cheong)
– Chopped garlic and onions
– A dash of pepper, soy sauce and sugar for the minced pork.

After blanching the noodles, I added about 2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil to the noodles and mixed them well, in order to prevent the noodles from clumping up. Plus, the aroma from the sesame seed oil would add flavor to the noodles and minced pork combo.

For the minced pork, brown some minced garlic and onions together with the bean paste. Stir fry until fragrant and minced pork turns brown and dry. Add in some water and adjust taste to suit yourself.

Instead of using wheat or white flour noodles noodles, I used a healthier alternative – organic spinach noodles.

The girls walloped all the noodles and did not fuss about having the same food for dinner again. Imagine eating Jar Jiang Mien for lunch and dinner and there was not a word of complaint from my pernickety girls… and I  got orders from them for Jar Jiang Mien again!  You can also cook a big portion of minced pork and deep freeze them in smaller portions for future consumption.

No. of times viewed = 277

For those of you who are deprived of home-cooked dishes, sorry if I made you drool and your tummy rumble with these dishes that my mil and hubs’ aunt cooked:

‘Jai’ (vegetarian dish).  I can survive on nothing but this dish for a day or two.  Just love all the ingredients used to cook this dish – dried mushrooms, golden needle mushrooms, dried bamboo shoots, Chinese cabbage, wood ear fungus, glass noodles…

Braised Hakka pork with wood ear cloud (wan yue) and dried oysters. This is one of my mil’s signature Hakka dishes…

Chicken cooked with Chinese rice wine, ginger and mushrooms.  This dish is simply mouth watering and a mood-lifter for me. I never got fed up of chicken cooked with wine during my 3 confinements.

Delish leh? They are all my favorite dishes and I better savor them while I can as my mil will be again away overseas for several months very soon.  Till then, I better enjoy my over-sized dinner that my mil so lovingly dishes up for us everyday.

No. of times viewed = 413

Who said instant noodles are only for the under privileged? My privileged kids think maggie mee aka instant noodles are a luxury. That’s because I hardly allow them to eat them. And even if I do, I don’t use the seasoning that comes with the instant noodles. I will either stir fry the noodles or put some sesame seed oil, a little dark soy sauce and some soy sauce to make them look like the real thing- the instant Indo mee goreng.

I whipped up some stir fried maggie mee for dinner last week and boy, I tell yer, they were rejoicing when they saw the noodles on the dining table, as if they were some really good stuff, some really expensive and rare gastronomical dishes muahahahaha…

My stir fried instant noodles. Ingredients used were garlic, shallots, fish paste, lean pork, mustard green and seasoned with a dollop of dark soy sauce, a dash of soy sauce and pepper.  I used 2 packets of instant noodles and they were all polished off in a jiffy!

No. of times viewed = 526

When my parents were here 2 weeks ago, my dad cooked dinner for us on most of the nights. My dad has a penchant for cooking and can cook very well, though he has no training whatsoever, besides having an interest in watching cook shows on TV. He also loves to bring us to new places to eat.  Thus, our trips back to Ipoh are normally filled with eating from dawn till dusk, savouring the best of Ipoh food!

Eating his dishes made all of us felt like we were back in Ipoh. Now that my parents have returned to Ipoh, the girls miss them very much. And I miss my dad’s cooking. By the way, I have also stopped ordering homecooked catered food since yesterday. What a relief!

Chicken stew…

Braised turnip…

Pan fried fish coated with turmeric powder…

Pork chop with big onions – dry style

When I told my dad that the pork chop were a tad dry without any sauce, without any hesitation, he whipped up some yummy sauce for the pork chop, yums!

Pan fried fish cakes.

No. of times viewed = 328

One thing I like about this caterer is that her dishes are varied and we hardly ever got the same dish for the past 2.5 weeks. But the combo of some of her dishes can be quite weird, like pumpkin cooked with curry powder!

Egg Omelette with sausages, fake crab sticks and long beans. My first time eating such an omelette.  She even cooked turnip + pork omelette one time and I liked it.

‘Koo loh yoke’ (deep fried pork with batter) cooked sweet and sour style with onions, tomatoes and curry leaves. Yup, she put curry leaves.  Weird combo?  And I hate all those ‘wok loh’ (black burnt carbon from the wok) all over her omelette and koo loh yoke.

And this is the weirdest combo and my fist time eating – pumpkin cooked with curry powder and she considered this a veggie dish.  No green leafy veggie that night.  Luckily I cooked a stir-fried leek + beans dish.

I am now having a hiatus from this caterer as my parents are here and my dad is taking over the wok now, YAY!! I shall resume the catering when they leave this weekend. After the first month catering ends, I will end the service and start cooking again by myself.

No. of times viewed = 643

This week is the 2nd week we are having catered homecooked food. And I think I am not going to continue. Let me tell you why and you can have a look at some of the dishes:

Steamed minced pork with preserved salted veggie. This dish was super duper salty… so salty that I had to spit it out!!  Fried wantan – that’s the only dish that was edible, though I had qualms about the type of cooking oil the caterer used.  Stir fried bean sprouts with tofu squares.

Stir fried spinach – which was too salty for my liking.

Deep fried spring rolls – check out the ‘wok loh’ (burnt residue from the wok), eeeeeuuuuu!!!

Each day, there will be 3 dishes — 1 ‘main’ dish consisting of chicken / pork, 1 veggie and 1 ‘miscellaneous dish’. The miscellaneous dish is normally something that’s cheap – fried wanton, fried spring rolls, spam meat, baked beans and other ‘instant’ dishes.

1) The dishes are full of ‘wok loh’ (burnt carbon residue from the wok). Carbon from burnt food is known to be carcinogenic (causing cancer).  Every evening, I need to spend 10-15 minutes scraping off black stuff from the top of the food or use a spoon to dig out all the tiny black stuff from the food.  Once done, half the portion of the food would have been thrown away!

2) Most of the dishes are a tad too salty for my palate

3) I can heat up ‘instant’ dishes myself – baked beans, spam meat (which I never buy actually), sardines, etc

4) It ain’t cheap at RM280 for 2 adults for 5 dinners a week only.

Conclusion : I will discontinue catering food after the 1 month period ends. Though I am still very busy with my online store, I think I won’t mind spending half an hour to whip up something that’s healthier for my kids… without any burnt carbon, excessive oil and salt and no canned food everyday haha!

No. of times viewed = 966

I made spaghetti with beef bolognaise sauce for lunch the other day. And the sauce is a healthy and wholesome one with lots of chopped celery, carrots, tomatoes, big onions and fresh shiitake mushrooms.  The bottled spaghetti sauce is supposedly preservative-free and MSG-free.

This plate is for Baby. Check out the 2 containers at the background. That’s for deep-freezing for Baby’s lunch / dinner next time (usually eaten in less than 2 weeks).  Her serving is always topped with extra mushrooms as she’s a great fan of mushrooms, just like #2. #1 hates mushrooms!

And this bowl is for my mum – vermicelli bolognaise! My mum, just like me, does not like spaghetti but loves rice vermicelli.

No. of times viewed = 384

These are some of the simple and wholesome homecooked dishes that I whipped up recently:

Stir-fried leek flower and celery with homemade fish paste.

Bean sprout omelette.  This dish was created after a grandma whom I’ve known at the morning mobile market saw me buying bean sprouts. She then told me to try making bean sprouts omelette. Well, it was tasty… and wholesome too.

An assortment of mixed veggie. 
I had cooked a big pot of sauce with meat, mushrooms and egg ala Cantonese style for the yee mein for lunch in the afternoon. Since there was still so much sauce left, I blanched some brocolli, red capsicum and celery and poured the left over sauce into the wok and dumped in the blanced veggie. Then mix them well and served this as a new dish for dinner. It was delish too!

Our steamed 10-grain rice.

No. of times viewed = 293

My mil has been away in HK for almost a month now…. and yes, I managed to dish up healthy and tasty dishes for my kiddos. Here are some of my ‘sau sai’ (culinary skill)…

Stir fried fresh udon noodles with purple cabbage, chicken meat, garlic and onions.  There are 2 types of udon noodles – dried type and fresh ones.  Fresh ones are only available from Japanese marts and taste better than the dried ones. They are pretty expensive and can cost up to RM20+ a packet.  My kiddos love Udon but not me.  I hate starchy noodles!

Braised chicken with organic Japanese pumpkin. My kids hate pumpkins but loved this dish 🙂

Braised turnip with mushrooms, shredded carrot, chicken strips, onion, garlic and dried cuttlefish strips.

No. of times viewed = 263