Stir-fried veggie with prawns (芥蘭花炒蝦仁)

The raw version

Well, it's a strange-looking vegetable and I only know the name of it in mandarin because I asked the vegetable stall uncle.

It looks like a cross between kai lan and broccoli because the flower bit on top resembles broccoli but the stem is that of a kai lan. The uncle told me it's broccoli with a long stem (but the texture and taste of the stem is that of a kailan's). Hmmm. Never mind what it is. What's more important is that it tastes nice right?

Stir-fried veggie with prawns (芥蘭花炒蝦仁)

Ingredients

• a small bunch of broccoli-kailan (for a lack of better description of the veg) 芥蘭花


• 3 prawns


• garlic (minced)


• stock (or water)


• oyster sauce to taste


• cornflour (if desired)

Method:

1. Cut the florets off and trim the stems then cut into appropriate length. Rinse the vegetables.


2. Rinse, shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tails intact.


3. Parboil the veggies.


4. Heat oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.


5. Add the prawns and fry till they are almost cooked.


6. Add oyster sauce and a bit of stock (or water) and bring to a boil.


7. Add cornflour water to thicken the gravy if desired.


8. Toss in the veggies and mix. (You may wish to skip this step and just arrange the veggies on a plate and pour the prawns and the gravy over the veggies.)


9. Serve hot.

Note: You may fry this veggie with fresh mushrooms and it's yummy too. :)

For toddler's consumption:

• Serve as how you would for broccoli

Spinach Soup

I'm a soup lover (though I'm not Cantonese) and my mum would always pamper me with my favourite soups when I go back for dinner at her place. This soup - spinach soup - is definitely one of my favourites (and my mum's too!). I cooked this tonight for our dinner and had an extra bowl of it! :)



Spinach soup

*Skip the dried scallop and dried shrimp for tots below 18mths*

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch spinach or baby spinach (heng cai in cantonese or xian cai in mandarin) - I prefer baby spinach coz it's easier to prepare and more tender
• fishballs
• 1 chicken carcass or 3 chicken breast bones
• pork ribs
• dried scallop
• dried shrimp
• ikan bilis
• 3 cloves garlic (keep the skin on)

Method:

1. Blanch chicken bones and pork ribs.
2. Wash the ikan bilis and dried shrimp thoroughly.
3. Rinse the garlic.
4. Rinse the dried scallop and place into a small soup bag.
5. Put the chicken bones, pork ribs, ikan bilis, dried shrimp, garlic and dried scallop to boil.
6. Boil on high heat for the first 45min then simmer on low heat for a few hours. (I usually simmer my soup for at least 3 hours coz the longer you boil the soup, the sweeter it is!)
7. Once the soup is ready, sieve out the chicken bones, ikan bilis and the dried shrimp.
8. Retain the pork ribs (if desired) and remove the dried scallop from the soup bag and return it to the soup.
9. Add the fishballs and spinach only when about to serve as they cook really fast.
10. Add salt/fish sauce to taste (only after adding the fishballs as fishballs also add to the saltiness of the soup).

For toddler's consumption:

• Skip the dried scallop and dried shrimp for tots below 18mths
• Cut the spinach into toddler bite-size before serving to prevent choking.
• Cut fishballs into small pieces - suitable for tots above 2 years.

Chicken Skewers

Alright, I'm not sure whether this is considered a Chinese or Western dish. But heck. Who cares what it's supposed to be called when it tastes great and is superbly easy to make?

Chicken Skewers

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken thighs (deboned, skin removed)
• 1 medium red/yellow/green capsicum
• 1/2 can canned pineapple or fresh pineapple cut into cubes

Seasoning (for the chicken):

• chicken marinade
• BBQ sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• hua diao jiu
• ground black pepper

Method:

1. Remove visible fat from chicken thighs and cut into small pieces.
2. Marinate the chicken with the seasoning (overnight).
3. Cut the capsicum open, remove the the seeds and cut it into pieces (similar to the chicken).
4. Skewer the chicken and capsicum pieces, using satay sticks, alternating the two.
5. Pour leftover marinade on the skewers.
6. Preheat oven to 220degC.
7. Place skewers on baking tray and bake at 220degC for 10min.
8. Remove skewers and place on plate.
9. Serve together with pineapple slices/ cubes.