Mee Bakso

Indonesian BeefBall Soup Noodle

Everybody has his/her version of this dish, and so do I...
I like it simple, but the beefballs have got to be dunked into the hot dark chilli sauce for that extra kick!

Ingredients

for the Soup

1kg of store-bought beefballs (I like to score a cross on it and it'll fluff up when boiled...pretty)
5 cloves of garlic - crushed
2 shallots -wedged
a few slices of ginger
2 beef cubes (either Knorr or Maggi)
6 cups water or more
salt and pepper to taste
a tsp of sugar

1kg of yellow noodles - washed and scalded
some beansprouts - washed and scalded
some mustard greens (chye sim/sawi) - scalded

Garnishing

some fried shallots
pickled green chillies

Dark Chilli Sauce

10-15 red cili padi(bird's eye chilli)
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup sweet soya sauce (kicap manis)

Blend the abv together till fine.


Heat abt 1/4 cup of oil with 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Saute the shallots, garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add the beef cubes and enough water for yr soup. Drop in the beefballs. Simmer till boiling, then add salt,sugar and pepper to taste.

To serve, pour hot soup and beefballs over noodles with beansprouts and the mustard greens. Garnish with shallots and pickled green chillies or with the dark chilli sauce.

Say mooooooo....

Saujana Seafood Set

Was inspired to cook this set after a visit to Saujana in Johore after my Melaka trip. Unfortunately, for some reason, I can't find any seabass today and so decided to skip Ikan Tiga Rasa...had Sweet Sour Fish instead..anyway,..the kids loved it and so do I...only setback was, I can only eat a little coz I have this condition - I can't eat much when I'm tired!....*smile*



The fried rice is quite similar to the Nasi Goreng Ananas in my previous entry.....just omit the pineapples and use a combi of veg oil plus a little sesame oil for sauteing..



For this kailan, I added sliced fishcakes.

A handful of baby kailan
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
1 red chilli - sliced
1 small shallot (small onion)- sliced thinly
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste, as the oyster sauce is already salty

Boil some water in a pot.Add some salt and 1 tsp of oil. Blanch veggie for a couple of minutes. Prepare a bowl of ice cold water in the meantime.Take out veggie and dunk into the bowl to stop the cooking process. U'll get a nice green colour without overcooking yr veg. Drain well.
Next,in a wok,heat 1 tbsp of oil,mixed with a few good dashes of sesame oil. The combi of oil will produce a glaze effect on the veg later. Saute onion,garlic,chilli and add the oyster sauce.Pour a little bit of water to mix.Add some sugar and salt.Simmer till boiling,then then turn off heat. If sauce is too dilute,u may add some cornflour solution (1 dsp cornflour + 1/4 cup of water )to thicken it.Arrange veg on a plate and pour sauce over...eat it hot!



Similar to the soup in my Tom Yam Noodle...just add in any 'protein' seafood u want..



Ingredients

1kg battered fish slices - fried, and put aside

The sauce :

1 cup chilli sauce
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup sweet sour sauce
2 tbsp plum sauce
3 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
salt to taste

2 onions - wedges
a few slices of ginger
2 cloves of garlic - finely minced
1/2 green capsicum - cubed
1/2 red capsicum - cubed
1/2 yellow capsicum - cubeb
1/4 cup of finely cubed pineapple

1 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp sesame oil

Heat the oil combi and saute the onions,garlic,ginger and add all the capsicums and pineapple. Don't burn the aromatics. Add the sauce ingredients. If it's too thick, add some water till u get the consistency u want. Avoid making it too dilute. Taste and adjust accordingly. It shud taste spicy , sweet and sour all in one. Add whatever that is lacking. Pour over fried fish slices when u are abt to serve to prevent sogginess.

Chicken Macaroni Soup... for the Soul

2nd daughter is down with fever and I decided to make some soup to whet her appetite. Don't feel like having rice as well, hence, the macaroni. Hubby hates pasta but he'll agree to the soup...So I'm safe...

Ingredients

1 packet of macaroni - cooked to al dente
1 whole chicken - cut into 12 pcs, skinned of excess fat
4 medium potatoes - peeled and cubed
4 carrots - peeled and cubed
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
3 cloves
salt
pepper

Soup Base (to be blended)

3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
an inch of ginger
2 pcs of knorr/maggi chicken cubes
6 tbsp of soto spice mix

mix the above with a little water to form a thick paste

Garnishing

fried shallots
spring onions (chopped)
chinese parsley (chopped)

method :
Heat abt 1/2 cup of oil. Thrown in cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves. Stir for a few secs and then add in soup base paste. Saute till fragrant and cooked. Stir in the chicken, potatoes and carrots. Add sufficent water to cover and make sure it's a little dilute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer till chicken is cooked and tender.

To serve, place macaroni in a bowl. Pour over soup with chicken pieces and sprinkle with a garnishing of fried shallots and chopped greens....and THAT....is comfort food for the sick...

The Soup

Ingredients

10 cups of water
2 cubes of chicken granules
2 inches of ginger - bruised
5 cloves of garlic - bruised
2 onions - wedged
1 carrot - sliced thickly
3 celery - sliced thickly
2 pandan leaves - tied to a knot
salt to taste
1 whole (cleaned) chicken , with skin
some extra chicken wings - for the hunger pangs later...hehe

Dump all of the above in a large pot. Bring to a boil under medium heat to extract the essence of the chicken into the soup. Add more salt if u thick it's too bland or more water if too salty. When chicken is boiled/cooked, remove and hang or drain to dry them out of the soup. Set aside to roast them later. You have the base soup already!You will need the soup to cook the rice with and also to make the chilli sauce.

Serve hot, with some coriander leaves and a sprinkling of fried shallots.

Sunday Soup

It's the weekend...and after all that Rendang earlier in the week and heavy late night stuff, it's time to go light. So...a Sunday Soup is enough for me...(or really?...hehe)

Ingredients

Aromatics

2 onions - sliced
3 cloves of garlic - crushed
2 red chillies - sliced diagonally
1 cube of ikan bilis (anchovies) stock
4 cups water
salt to taste

some silken tofu - cubed
some chikuwa - cubed
fishballs of your choice
some kangkong (water convulvulus)

Sprinkling of fried shallots and chopped spring onions + flat parsley

Heat abt 3 tbsp of oil in wok. Saute the aromatics till fragrant. Add water. When boiling, add salt and the rest of the items. Do not overcook the veggie. Remove from heat and add the sprinkles. Serve hot as it is or with some rice. U may want to dip the items in my favourite dipping soya sauce. Click here for the sauce.