Just for kids! - Cabbage wrap chicken minis

Here's a simple recipe to share that will make both mummy and kid happy!

Cabbage wrap chicken minis (makes 1 mini)

Ingredients:

• 1 cabbage leaf (depending on the size of your cabbage, you may only need half a leaf for one of these minis)
• 1 thumb-length piece of chicken fillet (you may mince this but I didn't)

Marinate chicken with (just a dash/pinch of each seasoning!):

• oyster sauce
• Lee Kum Kee chicken marinade
• ground black pepper
• sugar (optional)
• sesame oil

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken fillet for at least an hour.
2. Wash and blanch cabbage leaf in boiling stock or water to make it easier to wrap the chicken (about 5 minutes)
3. Spread cabbage leaf out on a plate and place chicken fillet on it. Wrap the chicken fillet up as you would with a springroll.
4. Place the wrapped chicken on a plate and steam it for 10minutes.
5. Optional: Pour the 'juice' that is in the plate after the steaming into a small saucepan (top up with more stock if necessary), add cornflour solution (mixture of cornflour and water) to thicken into a gravy. Dish gravy over the wrap.
6. Serve.

This is how it looks prior to steaming

And the verdict!:

My little boy had one of these too (he's almost 1!) - but I had to cut the wrap into really small pieces for him to handle.

Omit all the seasonings for children under 1 year old. The chicken and cabbage are naturally sweet so there is no need to add seasoning. :)

Bitter gourd with salted (duck) egg

I've hated bitter gourd (also known as bitter melon) for the longest time. Naturally, I never thought to cook it even though hubby eats it. But after Alex was born, there were a couple of times I felt inspired - I know not why - to order bittergourd from the economical rice stall and I realised I didn't hate it that much any more.

Yesterday, I bravely whipped up my first bittergourd dish and I must say, it was bitter. Well, what was I expecting from a bitter gourd anyway?

I had come across two tips on how to make the bittergourd less bitter:

(i) soak the cut bittergourd in water (with salt and sugar added) for 15min then discard the water and rinse the bittergourd.

(ii) soak the uncut bittergourd in salt water for 15min before cutting the bittergourd.

Which tip did I try?

Well, I tried tip #1. And the bittergourd was still very bitter. I guess I'll be trying tip #2 next time!

For those who love the bitter taste that the bittergourd offers, here's the recipe:

Bitter gourd with salted (duck) egg

Ingredients:

• half a big bitter gourd (follow tip #2 before slicing!)
• 1 salted egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2tsp sugar
• 1/2 bowl water

For soaking the bittergourd:

• water
• salt

Method:

1. Soak the bittergourd in water. Add salt to the water and soak the bittergourd for 15min. Rinse.
2. Cut the bittergourd length-wise then use a metal spoon to scoop out the seeds. Slice the bittergourd into thin slices.
3. Add oil to wok (I used my Happy Call Pan) and fry minced garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in bittergourd and fry for a couple of minutes.
5. Add in the water, oyster sauce and sugar. Cover the wok.
6. Meanwhile, crack the raw salted egg into a bowl and cut the yolk into smaller pieces.
7. When the bittergourd turns a darker hue, pour the salted egg into the wok (as if you are doing an egg drop).
8. Turn off the fire after 10 sec then cover the wok and let it sit for a couple of minutes before dishing up the food.

Tips for selecting a less bitter bittergourd:

• Pick one which is a lighter shade of green. Darker green = more bitter!
• Select one which has less lines on the bittergourd.

French beans with olive (橄榄菜)

I like french beans not just because of its taste but they keep rather well for awhile, unlike leafy veggies. I've cooked a couple of versions of french beans (see here and here).

 If you aren't sure what 橄榄菜 is, you can check this out (I'm too lazy to take a pic). It's commonly served as a side dish to porridge, alongside pickles and fermented beancurd.

I usually buy the AAA brand as it's nice and it doesn't contain preservatives.

French beans with olive (橄榄菜)

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of french beans
• 2 tablespoons olive (橄榄菜)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• water
• fish sauce to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Pluck both ends of the french bean and slice thinly, diagonally.
2. Fry 1 tablespoon of olive (橄榄菜) in a bit of oil in the wok. It is soaked in oil so you don't really need that much oil.
3. Add garlic and fry till fragrant.
4. Add the french beans. Fry a little while before adding water and letting it simmer.
5. Add the other tablespoon of olive (橄榄菜) and if the dish is still not salty enough you can add some fish sauce to taste.
6. Dish and serve.

The reason for separating the amount of olive (橄榄菜) to be used in the cooking process: 

By the time the french beans are cooked, the olive added at the beginning of the cooking would have lost (or almost lost) its taste. Thus, the adding of the olives at the end of the cooking retains the taste of olives, which goes well with the french beans.

Asparagus with prawns

Ok, more vegetable dishes coming up! haha. I've got like a million other posts to blog about so everything's gonna be short and sweet.

I've got another version of this veggie but it's baby asparagus rather than asparagus. 

Asparagus with prawns

Ingredients:

• 2 small bunches of asparagus
• 4 prawns, shelled (retain the tail), deveined 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• oil 
• salt 
• water

Marinate prawns with:

• a bit of hua diao jiu
• dash of ground black/ white pepper 

Seasoning: 

• fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Trim the stem end of the asparagus. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the tough fibers on the stem - how much to remove depends on how old your asparagus is.
2. Rinse the asparagus and slice it diagonally. 
3. Place a bit of oil and salt in some water and bring to a boil. Parboil the asparagus for 2 min till almost cooked.
4. Drain and set aside.
5. Heat oil in wok and fry garlic till fragrant.
6. Add marinated prawns and fry till 70% cooked. 
7. Add the parboiled asparagus and some water and simmer for a short while till prawns and asparagus are fully cooked.
8. Add fish sauce to taste.
9. Dish and serve.

For tot's consumption:

You can cook the asparagus for a longer time to soften it further if your tot is not so good at chewing crunchy veggies. :) Cut into bite-size before serving.

Stir-fried snowpeas (with baby corn and carrot)

I hardly cook snowpeas but since I decided to cook lunch and dinner for hubby and Alicia for the whole week, I had to serve up a variety of vegetables to break the monotony. :P

Stir-fried snowpeas with baby corn and carrot

 Ingredients:

• 1 packet snowpeas, pluck both ends to 'devein' 
• 1/3 large carrot, slice thinly
• 3 baby corn, cut diagonally, about 1.5cm long
• garlic, minced
• water

Method:

1. Heat oil in wok. Fry the garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in the carrot and corn and fry for about 2 minutes. Add some water if it's too dry.
3. Add in snowpeas and a bit more water/stock and let simmer for a few minutes till it's cooked. Carrot should not have a raw taste and snowpeas should look very bright green.
4. Add fish sauce to taste.
5. Dish and serve.

You will realise that the gravy has a sweet taste even though no sugar was added - that's due to the sweetness of the vegetables! Carrots especially once cooked through (i.e. no raw taste), will add much sweetness to the gravy... and since baby corn and snowpeas are also 'sweet', that the gravy is sweet comes as no surprise! :)

Stir-fried Nai Bai with dried shrimps

I've got toooooo many overdue posts! I shall shelve them for the moment and try to cover the more recent ones - which are mainly food entries. :P

I'm not sure what this vegetable is called in English but it's a fairly easily available vegetable at the market. :)

Stir-fried Nai Bai with dried shrimps

Look at the crispy garlic bits!

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of nai bai or about 70cents worth of it
• a couple of cloves of garlic, minced
• olive oil
• about 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1/4 bowl water

Seasoning:

• salt/ fish sauce/ soy sauce to taste

Method:

1. Rinse the dried shrimp and soak in 1/4 bowl of water for about 15 min. Drain and reserve the water for later use.
2. Remove any wilted leaves and slice off the base of the veggie. Wash thoroughly in case dirt is trapped in the leaves.
3. Place the garlic and oil in a microwave safe bowl (loosely cover with microwave safe wrap and leave one corner uncovered) and heat for about 2-3min, stopping every about 1min and opening the microwave to prevent the oil for overheating. Once the garlic is a nice golden brown, you can stop cooking it. Alternatively, just fry garlic in oil in a wok (I was doing a batch of garlic oil for the whole day's worth of cooking so I used the microwave). :P
4. Heat the garlic oil in wok and add in dried shrimp. Fry till fragrant.
5. Add the nai bai and fry for a short while before adding in the shrimp water.
6. Cover wok and simmer till vegetables are cooked.
7. Add seasoning to taste.
8. Dish and top with crispy garlic bits.

You may wish to prepare the nai bai in the same way as the oyster sauce romaine lettuce (it tastes yummy too).

Chayote (chokos) with glass noodles

I'm really quite in love with this vegetable as you can see... I cook it as a dessert, I stir-fry it with prawns and dried shrimps and just over the weekend I tried cooking it with glass noodles.

I came across this idea while reading Ju's blog and I thought, I'd try it some day.

And so that day came and I cooked it.

I think I still prefer the thinly sliced version instead of the julienned one because I prefer my chayote to be crunchy rather than soft. But oh well, if I don't try it, I'd never know right? :P


Chayote (Chokos) with glass noodles

Ingredients:

• 1 big chayote
• 1 handful small dried shrimps
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 bowl stock
• 1 bowl water
• 1 small packet of glass noodles
• fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Remove the skin and seed of the chayote and julienn.
2. Rinse the dried shrimps a couple of times then soak in a bowl of water. Remove the shrimps and air-dry before frying (to prevent oil from splattering later). Reserve the bowl of water the shrimps were soaking in.
3. Soak the glass noodles to soften them a bit.
4. Heat oil in a wok and fry the garlic and dried shrimps till fragrant.
5. Add the chayote and fry for 30sec before adding in the stock and bowl of water.
6. Bring the stock to a boil then add the glass noodles.
7. Add fish sauce to taste.
8. Dish and serve. 

Chayote (Chokos) with dried shrimps

I dunno about you but I've taken a great liking for chayote (chokos) and on Sunday, I found that I had no prawns in the freezer so I decided to fry it with dried shrimps instead.

I was very pleased with the outcome and in fact, I liked it more than the version I cooked with prawns. You're bound to love it too - if you're fond of dried shrimps :P

Anyway, I was lazy and took the shortcut - didn't parboil the chayote slices this time round and just fried them ... it was still ok. :P

Chayote (Chokos) with dried shrimps

Ingredients:

• 1 big chayote (chokos) - remove skin and seed and slice very thinly)
• 1 handful of very small dried shrimps
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Rinse the dried shrimps a couple of times. Soak them in about half a bowl of water for about 1/2hr. (Chop the dried shrimps into smaller bits if you're using the bigger dried shrimps)
2. Remove the dried shrimps from the water and leave to dry - you don't want oil to splatter everywhere when you're frying them later. Reserve the water for cooking.
3. Heat some oil in the wok. Fry the garlic and dried shrimps till fragrant.
4. Add in the chayote and stir-fry for about a minute.
5. Add in the water that the dried shrimps were soaked in and bring it to a boil. (Add more water if nec)
6. Simmer on low heat for about 5-7min (depending on how crisp you like the veg).
7. Add fish sauce to taste - you don't need a lot of this as the dried shrimp is already a bit salty.
8. Dish and serve.

For toddler's consumption (above 18mths):


Cut the chayote slices into smaller pieces to facilitate chewing.

Chayote (Chokos) with prawns (佛手瓜炒虾仁)

The lighting when I took the photos was really bad, so you've really gotta pardon these photos with a blueish tinge...

To make up for the bad photos, I can tell you that this dish was truly a delightfully crunchy and savoury one, so if you do see chayotes in the market or supermarket, do give it a try!

Alicia didn't like the chayote cooked as a soup the other time - I guess she doesn't like the texture after it's cooked in the soup but she enjoyed the crunchy bites of the chayote yesterday during dinner.

Hubby and I enjoyed the dish too! I can't wait to cook this again soon!

Chayote (Chokos) with prawns (佛手瓜炒虾仁)

Ingredients:

• 1 chayote (chokos)
• 6 small prawns (washed, shelled and deveined)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• oil
• a pinch of salt
• water
• fish sauce to taste

Marinate prepared prawns with:

• a dash of hua diao jiu
• ground white pepper
• a bit of light soy sauce
• a dash of sesame oil

Method:

1. Remove skin and seed of the chayote. Cut it into quarters and slice as thinly as possible - the thickest slice I had was not more than 0.1cm.
2. Marinate the prepared prawns accordingly.
3. Parboil the sliced chayote in water with a pinch of salt and a bit of oil for no more than 1 min.
4. Remove the chayote slices and run room temp water/ cold water through them. Drain and set aside.
5. Heat oil in wok then fry garlic till fragrant.
6. Add in the prawns and stir-fry for a short while till prawns turn slightly pink on both sides.
7. Add some water and the chayote (the water should cover about a third of the ingredients in the wok).
8. Stir-fry for about 2-5 min (depending on how cooked you'd like the chayote - chayote can be eaten raw so there's no worry about eating raw veg).
9. Add fish sauce to taste.
10. Dish and serve.

For toddler's consumption:

• Cut chayote slices into small pieces for easier chewing.

Wintermelon soup

Wintermelon is versatile - it can be cooked in a savoury soup or as a drink.

Wintermelon is not only 'cooling', it is good for detox too! If you understand Mandarin, you can read this site for more details. In general, cooking the wintermelon with the skin on is more effective if you are interested in the 'cooling' properties.

Wintermelon soup

Ingredients:

• 1 slice of wintermelon (keep the skin on)
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 chicken breast bones
• 1 handful dried shrimps
• 1 dried scallop
• 3 cloves garlic (keep the skin on)
• fish sauce to taste
• 1.5L water

Method:

1. Wash the skin of the wintermelon clean. Remove the seeds and cut the wintermelon into chunks.
2. Blanch the pork ribs and chicken bones.
3. Rinse the dried shrimps, garlic and dried scallop.
4. Place the pork ribs, chicken bones, dried shrimps, dried scallop (place in small soup bag), garlic and water into the slowcooker. Cook on LOW for about 6 hours for the soup base.
5. Transfer the soup base to a pot suitable for cooking on stovetop. Add the wintermelon and boil the soup on medium-high heat for about 30min (you should get a 'cloudy' soup base).
6. Sieve out the bones, garlic and dried shrimps. Put the soup through an oil filter to remove any extra oil.
7. Return the pork ribs (if desired), wintermelon and dried scallop (take out of soup bag) into the soup.
8. Bring the soup to a boil and add fish sauce to taste.
9. Dish and serve.

It's the first time Alicia's agreed to take wintermelon! :) She usually dislikes the texture of melons... :P She lapped up the soup of course...

For toddler's consumption:

• Remove the skin from the wintermelon before serving.

Green radish and carrot soup

Adoring the beautiful green radish on my chopping board... :)

Green radish apparently reduces heatiness, alleviates stress, promotes urination and is good for expelling phelgm.

Green radish and carrot soup

Ingredients:

• 1 green radish (chop into chunks, remove skin)
• 2 small carrots (chop into chunks)
• 6 red dates
• 1 dried scallop (place in soup bag)
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 chicken breast bones
• 3 cloves garlic (with skin on)
• 1.5L water
• fish sauce/salt to taste

Method:

1. Blanch the pork ribs and chicken bones.
2. Rinse the red dates and garlic.
3. Add the red dates, garlic, pork ribs and chicken bones to the water in a slowcooker.
4. Let it cook on LOW for about 6hours.
5. Transfer the soup to a pot suitable for cooking on stovetop.
6. Boil on high heat for about 30min then remove the red dates, garlic and chicken breast bones. Retain the pork ribs if desired. Return the scallop to the soup.
7. Put the soup through oil filter paper to remove excess oil.
8. Add the green radish and carrots and boil for at least 30min till the green radish softens. (Don't expect them to be soft like carrots or even white radish. The texture's quite different!)
9. Add fish sauce to taste.

If cooking on stovetop,

1. Blanch the pork ribs and chicken bones.
2. Rinse the red dates and garlic.
3. Add the red dates, garlic, pork ribs and chicken bones to the water (2L instead of 1L) in a pot.
4. Boil on high heat for about 30min then simmer for 2-3hours.
5. Remove the red dates, garlic and chicken breast bones. Retain the pork ribs if desired. Return the scallop to the soup.
6. Put the soup through oil filter paper to remove excess oil.
7. Add the green radish and carrots and boil for at least 30min till the green radish softens. (Don't expect them to be soft like carrots or even white radish. The texture's quite different!)
8. Add fish sauce to taste.

For toddler's consumption:

• Cut the green radish into small cubes of about 0.5cm to make chewing easier. I found it ok to feed 2-3 such cubes to Alicia at one time, but it depends on your toddler of course... :)
• Cut carrots into cubes as well but there is no need to cut it as small as the green radish as carrots are much softer.

Stir-fried baby spinach with crispy whitebait

Mmmm.... tender bites of baby spinach with crispy whitebait!

The highlight of the dish... :)

Stir-fried baby spinach with crispy whitebait

Ingredients:

• 1-2 bunches of baby spinach
• 1 big handful of Japanese (dried) whitebait
• 100ml stock/water
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• shallot and garlic oil (made by frying shallot and garlic in oil till they brown)

Method:

1. In a wok, heat some shallot and garlic oil then add the whitebait and pan-fry till they turn golden brown and crisp.
2. Set aside the whitebait on a kitchen towel to remove any excess oil.
3. With the remaining oil in the wok, fry the garlic till fragrant.
4. Add the baby spinach and stir-fry for about half a minute.
5. Add the stock/water and simmer till the spinach is cooked.
6. Add fish sauce to taste.
7. Dish and top with crispy whitebait.

Alicia loves the crispy whitebait and she ate them neat. :)

For toddler's consumption:

• The whitebait from Japan is not salty and I highly recommend it for toddlers' consumption!
• Make sure the spinach is of appropriate length/size before serving to prevent choking.
• Serve the spinach and whitebait separately if preferred.

Baby kailan with prawns

Look at the lovely greens!!!

I remember it was a rainy morning when I went to the market and naturally, I was greeted with an abundance of vegetables at the stalls since their business is always adversely affected by bad weather.

Sometimes I just feel so bored... you know... staring at the same range of veggies and all... I don't repeat my dishes for at least a week so sometimes it kinda bothers me that I may have to cook the same veggie again. haha...

Anyway, it's been a long time since I cooked baby kailan and the auntie told me that that day's baby kailan was in top-form and I was sold on the idea immediately. :P

Well, you can stir-fry or just parboil baby kailan... this time, I chose to parboil them! :)

Baby kailan with prawns

Ingredients:

• $1 worth of baby kailan (yes! only a dollar for a full plate of veggies! Sometimes I really can't bear to order veggies when we eat out coz it's like daylight robbery....)
• 6 small prawns
• a few cloves garlic (minced - amount up to you)
• a few shallots (sliced thinly, amount up to you)
• water
• oil
• salt/sugar
• fish sauce to taste

Marinate prawns with:

• hua diao jiu
• dash of ground black pepper
• dash of sesame oil

Method:

1. Pluck the kailan into appropriate size/length (cutting veggies causes some loss in nutrients so if possible, pluck em), separating the leaves from the stalks. Rinse leafy veggies thoroughly as leafy veggies usually have lotsa particles.
2. Shell and devein the prawns, leaving the tail intact. Marinate the prawns.
3. Heat some water in the wok (add a little salt/sugar and oil to the water). When the water comes to a boil, add the stalks of the kailan followed by the leaves as the stalks will take longer to cook.
4. While waiting for the veggie to cook, heat a pan with oil and fry some of the garlic till golden brown. Drain and set aside.
5. Using the same oil and pan, add in the shallots and fry till golden brown. Drain and set aside. Reserve the super aromatic shallot and garlic oil for the last step.
6. Once the veggie's cooked, drain and set aside.
7. Heat a little oil in the wok and fry the remaining garlic.
8. Add the prawns. and fry till prawns are cooked before adding in the veggie to mix. Don't fry for too long since it's really just to mix the ingredients together before adding the seasoning.
9. Add fish sauce to taste.
10. Dish and top with golden brown shallots, garlic and the OIL used to fry the shallots and garlic! :)

For toddler's consumption:

Depending on your toddler's ability to chew, this veggie may or may not be suitable. Try cutting the leafy bits into smaller pieces to aid the little one's chewing.

Wa wa cai (娃娃菜) with canned stewed pork (红烧排骨)

I usually cook this dish using wongbok (白菜) but since wa wa cai looks like mini wongbok, and shares the same natural sweetness, I find it a suitable candidate for this dish.

Here's the canned stewed pork I use

(available at supermarkets like NTUC)

The canned stewed pork is well, oily. Hence, I removed the oil from the gravy using oil filter paper and I get tasty gravy without the floating layer of oil, which I personally find gross.

Wa wa cai (娃娃菜) with canned stewed pork (红烧排骨)

Ingredients:

• 1 can of stewed pork
• 1 packet of wa wa cai (they come in a pack of 3 small bunches)
• water
• salt/sugar
• oil

Method:

1. Open the can of stewed pork and separate the pork from the gravy.
2. Filter out the oil from the gravy using oil filter paper. Set aside.
3. Shred the meat.
4. Tear the leaves of the veggie into bite size and cut the stems into appropriate length.
5. Heat some water in the wok (add a little salt/sugar and oil to the water) to parboil the veggie.
6. When the water is boiling, put in the stems first and when they are almost cooked, put the leaves in.
7. If there isn't a lot of water left from the parboiling due to evaporation, simply add the gravy and let the veggie simmer on low heat in the gravy for about 5min before adding the stewed pork. (If there's too much water, discard some of the water so that the gravy won't be too diluted)
8. Let the dish come to a boil before turning off the heat.
9. Dish and serve.

For toddler's consumption:

• Serve only the vegetable and preferably only the leaves as not all can handle the fibers in the stem. :)

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

I bought chayote the other day from the market as it was recommended by the vegetable seller. I had asked her for recommendations for any remedies for ridding phelgm and she suggested this (though it wasn't the first option - she had something else in mind but apparently it was already sold out so chayote was the next best choice).

FYI, I saw this in NTUC and it was labelled as Chokos.

I got some information about chayote from this site:

"Chayote (pronounced chai-yo-tay) is a member of the cucumber and squash family. Though it is eaten both in raw or cooked forms, it is actually a fruit. In both forms it is a good source of amino acids and Vitamin C. It is also low in calories, sodium, contains no cholestrol and is a good source of fibre. You can peel it or prepare it with the skin on. The seed is tender and edible as well."

Here's the pic of the chayote from that site:

And here's the cut version of the chayote:

After a bit of reading up about the chayote in Mandarin, this is what I've gathered:

Chayote's health benefits:

• Boosts immunity against diseases
• Lowers blood pressure
• A good choice of food for heart patients as it's a low sodium food
• Has 2-3 times the protein and calcium in cucumbers
• Has a significantly higher amount of minerals and vitamins compared to other melons
• Alleviates indigestion, wet cough, chest tightness, flatulence, vomiting, liver and stomach gas pains and bronchitis.
• It is high in selenium (selenium has a strong antioxidant effect that protects cell membranes from structural and functional damage).
• Aids patients with fertility problems.
• High in zinc which stimulates intelligence in children.

How could you not give this vegetable/fruit a try? :P

It is a versatile veg/fruit and can be eaten raw as in salads, cooked in savoury soups or desserts.

This time, I've decided to make a dessert out of it:

Double-boiling in progress...

Here's the link to the stir-fried version I made.

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

Ingredients:

• 1 chayote (skin and seed removed, chop into chunks)
• 2 candied dates
• 1 handful Chinese barley
• less than 1 teaspoon sweet and bitter almonds (combined)
• 2-3 rice bowls water
• rock sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Add all the ingredients (except the rock sugar) into the double-boiler.
3. Double-boil for about 2 hours.
4. Add rock sugar to taste (it's already quite sweet so this is entirely optional).
5. Sieve out the candied dates and barley. Consume only the soup and the chayote.

Alicia had some of this though she wasn't particularly fond of it... in fact, she didn't quite like the chayote but was quite ok with the taste of the soup.

For toddler's consumption:

• Cut the chayote into smaller pieces before serving or allow the tot to bite off from the adult's portion.

Sambal Kangkong

I cooked sambal kangkong last Thursday but didn't have time to blog about it... anyway, I think I'll cook it again this week, if I manage to get them at the market! :P Hopefully I can get better photos this time round because I only realised that all the photos were a tad blurry when I downloaded the photos to my laptop yesterday!

Kangkong is rich in iron and its high level of S-methyl methionine are used in the treatment of gastric and intestinal problems. It has also been reported to have insulin-like properties which alleviates hyperglycemia. (Source: http://203.64.245.173/iv_sea/publications/kangkong.pdf)

Ok, I'm sure frying it with sambal won't aid the person having stomach or intestinal problems :P But you do know that frying it with sambal really is the way to enjoy kangkong, don't you? *wink*

Sambal kangkong

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kangkong (lightly bruise the stems and chop kangkong into segments)
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 shallots (chopped)
• 1/2 handful dried shrimps (rinse then pound some and chop some coarsely for different texture)
• 1 heaping tablespoon sambal (homemade or commercial)
• sugar (optional if your sambal already has added sugar)
• 1 chilli (sliced, de-seed if sambal used is already very spicy) - optional
• water

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Fry the dried shrimp till fragrant.
3. Add the garlic, shallots and chilli (optional) and fry till fragrant.
4. Add the sambal.
5. Fry till everything becomes a nice paste then add the kangkong.
6. Add a little water if too dry.
7. Dish and serve.

Hairy cucumber soup (毛瓜汤)

I think the name of this vegetable is hairy cucumber or green marrow or something... but I'm really not too sure. :P

It's usually cooked in soups and it contains carbohydrates, protein, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, riboflavin, fructose, carotene, phosphorus, calcium, iron and other minerals. It's considered 'neutral' compared to wintermelon which has 'cooling' properties.

I actually cooked this soup last Thursday but had no time at all to blog about it and am finally doing so today!

Hairy cucumber soup

*Skip the dried scallop for tots below 18mths*

Ingredients:

• 1 hairy cucumber
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 chicken breast bones
• 1 dried scallop
• 1 handful red dates (pitted)
• fish sauce to taste
• 1 soup pot water

Method:

1. Blanch the pork ribs and chicken bones.
2. Rinse and place dried scallop in a small soup bag.
3. Remove the skin and seeds of the cucumber and chop into chunks.
4. Place all the ingredients (except the hairy cucumber and fish sauce) into a pot.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few hours.
6. Sieve out the bones and place everything else back into the soup, including the dried scallop.
7. Add the hairy cucumber and boil for about 20min.
8. Add fish sauce to taste before serving.

For toddler's consumption:

• Skip the dried scallop for tots below 18mths
• Cut hairy cucumber into small pieces before serving or allow the tot to bite off from the adult's portion since it's so soft! :)

Basic lemongrass drink

These sticks of lemongrass may seem to be nothing to rave about, but the health benefits of consuming lemongrass are aplenty.

This is what I have gathered from simply googling 'lemongrass health benefits':

"Studies have shown that the lemon grass has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Mixed with pepper, it's a home therapy for menstrual troubles and nausea. Drank as tea, it is an effective diuretic."

"[Lemongrass] is a good cleanser that helps to detoxify the Liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder and the digestive tract. It cuts down uric acid, cholesterol, excess fats and other toxins in the body while stimulating digestion, blood circulation, and lactation; it also alleviates indigestion and gastroenteritis. It is said that lemongrass also helps improve the skin by reducing acne and pimples and acts as a muscle and tissue toner. Also, it can reduce blood pressure.

Lemongrass has been found to help in recovery of the common cold and flu, reducing fevers, cramps, flatulence and arthritic pain as well as aid digestion especially in children."

Lemongrass drink

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of lemongrass
• 1.5L water (or less if a stronger flavour is desired)
• rock sugar or honey to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse the lemongrass and bruise it.
2. Bring lemongrass and the water to a boil and simmer for about 3min on low heat.
3. Turn off fire and let it steep for 10min or more.
4. Add rock sugar or honey to taste (optional).

This glass of lemongrass drink has honey added so the colour's a little different.

Personally, I prefer the drink with rock sugar rather than honey as I find that the honey steals the show. The drink is especially refreshing when no sugar's added and when consumed after a sinful or oily meal! My friend swears by her lemongrass tea (she adds a teabag and some ginger) and calls it the remedy for a char kway teow hangover. :P

Wintermelon barley drink

This is another one of my 'cooling' drinks. I have to come up with 'cooling' drinks more often now that the TCM doctor recommended that my hubby drinks some of that regularly since he's so 'heaty'.

So here's another 'cooling' drink idea for you.

It's cooling yet not too cooling and it's nourishing and can be drunk on a regular basis.

Wintermelon is not only 'cooling', it is good for detox too! If you understand Mandarin, you can read this site for more details. In general, cooking the wintermelon with the skin on is more effective if you are interested in the 'cooling' properties.

I hope you like it! :)

Wintermelon barley drink

Ingredients

• 1 slice of fresh wintermelon (preferably sliced from the centre of the wintermelon rather than at the ends)
• 2 handfuls Chinese barley (available at Chinese medical halls)
• Black sugar to taste (available at Chinese medical halls)
• 2L water

Method:

1. Wash the wintermelon thoroughly as we are cooking it with the skin on.
2. Remove the seeds and chop the wintermelon into pieces (skin intact).
3. Rinse the Chinese barley a few times till it's clean.
4. Place the wintermelon chunks and the barley into the slow cooker and cook on HIGH till you see small bubbles in the water.
5. Turn the slowcooker to LOW and slowcook for another 5-6hours.
6. Sieve the drink then add black sugar to taste.

Alternatives:

1. You can add water chestnuts to the drink as well.

2. Luo han guo (Buddha's fruit) can be used in place of black sugar.

3. Bitter and sweet almonds can be added as well.