Mohinga, Burmese Fish Soup Noodle

Recently, we were invited for Lunch at our friend's place. They are of Burmese origin and had served us Mohinga, a type of Burmese fish soup noodle. According to Wikipedia, Mohinga is a rice noodle and fish soup from Myanmar and is an essential part of Burmese cuisine. It is considered by many to be the national dish of Myanmar.

It is sort of like Asam Laksa minus the spiciness, looks a bit like mee rebus and tasted sweet, sour and a little sourish.. a very refreshing combination of natural taste without the use of salt or pepper which are quite core ingredients of most recipe.

After some googling around checking out on different recipes, I had attempted to try this out. Ingredients are quite easily available and all I needed was a little twist and combining the various recipes to render this version.

Please note that I had adjusted some of the ingredients due to my low carb diet, feel free to switch it to whichever you are comfortable. And this may not be authentic dish like those in Myanmar but rather my own adaptation based on information gathered from the internet.

Ingredients:

• 3tbsp of olive oil (you can use any oil like canola, or even peanut oil)
• 1/2tsp Natvia (if using sugar, use 1tsp)
• 1 shallots (sliced)
• 2.5 big onions (sliced)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 lemongrass stalk (2 pcs halved lengthwise and the other 2 sliced)
• 4-5cups of water
• 2tsp of turmeric powder
• 1tbsp of anchovies powder/granules (I used the japanese type)
• 2tsp salted anchovies paste
• 2tsp of tamarind paste
• 6 slices of ginger
• 300-400g of barramundi fish (cut to cube pieces, you may use any white fish and original recipe in Burma uses catfish)
• 1tsp of smoked paprika (if you are not cooking for kids, feel free to use crushed chilli)
• 1/4 cup of chick pea powder/flour (also known as garbanzo bean)
• 2tbsp fish sauce
• 4 hard boiled egg (either quartered it or sliced)
• 4 servings of cooked rice noodles (I used dried laksa noodle, boiled for bout 5-7mins)
• chopped red chilli for garnishing (and spiciness)
• sliced scallion for garnishing
• chopped cilantro for garnishing
• lime wedges (we used one lime)
• a packet of pea chips to serve along

Steps:

1. In the blender, blend these ingredients together till it form a paste: 1/2 portion of the onions, sliced lemongrass, smoked paprika and 3 slices of ginger.
2. In a pot (I'm using the french oven aka enamel coated dutch oven), add in water, turmeric powder, garlic (crushed), lemongrass (the halved), 3 ginger slices, tamarind paste, anchovies stock, anchovies paste and fish sauce. Let the boil and simmer for bout 5-6mins.
3. Add in the fish to the simmering broth and let it cook. It should only takes bout 2-3mins depending on the size of the cutlet. Sieve the fish out and side aside. 
4. Remove the lemongrass, garlic and ginger from the broth.
5. Pour the chickpea flour on a pan, on low heat, saute it till golden brown. Dish out and set aside once done.
6. Using the same pan, heat 1tbsp of oil in the pan, sprinkle the sugar in it and saute the shallots till light golden brown. Once down, dish out set aside.
7. Again on the same pan, add in the balance of the oil, saute the blended onion mixture till fragrant, add in the fish to give it a stir and coat the fish with the mixture. Dish out the fish and set aside.
8. Now dish the balance of the sauted onion mixture to the broth and continue to let it simmer. While simmering slowly stir in the fried chickpea flour so that it helps to thicken the sauce.
9. Add in balance of the onion to simmer. Simmer till the onion soften.
10. Once done, assemble the serving with noodle, top with the fish. Then scoop the broth with the onion over it. Sprinkle with chopped chilli, cilantro, crispy shallot and a piece of the pea chips.

Chickpeas Pumpkin Soup

Getting bored with the normal meals and wanted something special for lunch today and at the same time need to finish up the pumpkin before it spoils, and tada... roast pumpkin soup with chickpeas cooked using the pressure cooker.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chickpeas, soaked for at least 30mins, washed and drain
• 5tbsp of puy lentil, soaked for at least 30mins, washed and drain
• 1 cup of water
• 150-200g of pumpkin, sliced
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 carrot, cut to coarse pieces
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1cup meat broth (mine is the one I had made for ramen, left over, or you can use vegetable stock or chicken stock)
• 1/4 cup chopped bacon

Steps:

1. Place the chickpeas, lentil and water in the pressure cooker and use manual mode to cook for 5mins. Once done, drain off the water.
2. While the chickpeas and lentil are cooking, place the bacon on some aluminium foil and place it in the air fryer. Also line the pumpkin slices in the air fryer. Set it at 180c for 8-10mins.
3. In either a pan or in another pot, saute the onion with the butter. If using pressure cooker, use the high saute mode.
4. Next blend the onions with the pumpkin.
5. Finally, add in all the ingredients except bacon into the pressure cooker. Set it to manual modem KPT for 2mins.
6. Once ready, served with the air fried crispy bacon.

** Note: I have not use any seasoning but if you like, you may sprinkle some cumin powder and paprika in step 5. There is no need for salt as it is already very flavoursome.

Quick Style Hainanese Chicken Rice

Weather is getting cold and I just want something yum, good for recovering body from sickness yet with some hot soup. Then it just cross my mine why don't I do a quick hainanese chicken rice with the pressure cooker.

So I prepared this while the little one is taking her nap and the big girl was still in school for her after school activity.

Previously I had also posted the recipe before but using the traditional method, that consumes roughly almost at least 2-3hrs to prep and cook the entire dish. The recipe is here.

For this, it took me an hour for the entire prep including preparing of sauces (and some chatting online.. hehehe)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken drumsticks (use what ever amount you need for your family or other part of the chicken)
• 5 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups of cold ice water
• 3 cup rice (soaked in warm water to remove pyhtic acid and then washed and drain)
• 2tbsp butter
• 2tbsp minced garlic
• 2 leaves of pandan
• 10-12 slices of ginger
• 1 tbsp of garlic and 1tbsp of ginger, minced together
• 4tbsp of sesame oil
• 3tbsp cooking oil
• 1tsp oyster sauce
• 3tsp soy sauce
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 5tbsp chopped spring onion
• some fish balls
• some slices of cucumber for serving

Steps:

1. Pour the 5cups of water into the pot of the pressure cooker and select the saute high mode, close the lid so that it heats up faster.
2. Once the water is boiling, add in 1tsp salt and half the ginger slices. Then add in the chicken.
3. Close the lid and change it to manual pressure mode, KPT for 7mins.
4. While the chicken is cooking, prepare the ingredients for the rice and sauces.
5. In one saucer, mix 2tbsp of spring onion with the minced garlic and ginger. Then add in 2tbsp of cooking oil, 1tsp soy sauce, small pinch of salt, 1tbsp sesame oil, and mix well. Set aside for serving.
6. Once the chicken is done and pressure valve has drop, remove the pot from the pressure cooker and ladle the chicken into the cold ice water. Leave it for roughly 5-10mins before plating it up.
7. In another pot, set the pressure cooker to saute high mode, add in the balance cooking oil and sesame oil. After bout 1min, add in the balance of the minced garlic and saute till it is light golden. Scoop out half on another saucer and set aside for the other sauce.
8. Add in the balance of the pandan leaves, ginger slices, salt, butter and rice and stir fry it for a min or two. Then add in the chicken stock from boiling chicken. It should be about 3cups, enough to cook the rice. Set the pressure cooker to rice mode.
9. Add in the oyster sauce and balance soy sauce into the saucer with the fried garlic. Stir and set aside for serving.
10. Heat up the pot with the balance of the chicken stock, add in the fishballs and let it boil for bout 5mins. Season with some pepper. Dish out to serve and sprinkle with the balance of the spring onion.
11. Once the rice is ready, you may serve your food.

Hakka Lei Cha

Hakka Lei Cha is one of my favourite dish. It is packed with lots of healthy fibre from various vegetables and the yummy green tea soup.

Another best part of it is I get to use some home grown harvest like basil, parsley and mint from my garden.

Ingredients:
For the soup:

• about 3/4cups of dried anchovies, washed and drain
• 2l water
• one big handful of basil, roughly 1.5cups (not pushed down, but just put on the cup to measure) 
• a small bunch of mint, after chopped should be roughly 1/4 cup amount
• 3-4 sprigs of parsley
• 1/4 cup of peanut (roasted)
• a small handful of tang-o veggie if you like it to have a little bitter taste
• 2 tbsp of green tea powder (i used japanese green tea)
• 1/8 tsp salt

Other ingredients:

• 2cups of rice - cook like normal
• 3 big cloves of garlic (I'm using local Perth grown garlic that's currently in season and very fat)
• 3/4 Australia leek, sliced finely
• 5 snake/long beans, cut to small cubes
• 3/4 carrots, julienne
• 1/2cups of finely sliced cabbage
• 300g sweet potatoes shoot (mine is home grown too)
• 3tbsp pickled radish, washed
• 3pcs of hard tofu or known as tau kua
• 1/4 zucchini, julienne
• 3pcs of fresh button mushroom, cut to thin slices
• 3tbsp oil to saute

Steps:

1. Place 1/2 cups of the anchovies and water in a pot and boil for roughly 15-20mins. I used the pressure cooker to do this and kept pressure for 4mins. Removed the anchovies and place it in the air fryer along with the balance of the anchovies and AF at 180c for 7mins. If you don't have an AF, just use a non stick pan to fry it (without oil) till it is all crispy.
2. Place all the rest of the ingredients along with the fried anchovies in a blender and blend till it is as smooth as you can get. Add in some of the stock if required as the mixture can be too dry and a bit hard to blend.
3. Pour in the mixture into the stock and let it get into boil and set it aside. That should be about 2-3mins.
4. AF the tau kua at 200c for 3mins, or slightly pan fried it with a little oil. Set aside.
5. Heat a little oil and saute the garlic (divide the garlic to 8 portions for those veggies) and fry the veggies separately. Set them aside.
6. When you want to serve, just place the rice on the bowl, scoop the veggies around the rice and pour in the soup stock to serve.

Note:

• The veggies may vary depending on your preference or seasonal availability. Some also serve with toasted sesame seed and/or peanuts.
• For those who are allergic to peanuts may consider substituting with pine nuts (if you are not allergic to it).
• My first attempt of making this dish, I used pesto sauce instead coz I didn't have basil with me. If you are using pesto sauce, omit the basil and peanuts.

Home made Ramen with Tonkatsu Broth

My demanding husband had requested that I prepared the nice tonkatsu ramen and after shopping for all the ingredients, finally, managed to do that.

For the broth (do note it takes a long time to prepared).

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces of pork trotters (the one with more bones, less meat, cut to small pieces)
• 1 chicken carcass
• 1 big onion, cut to half, lightly roast in the air fryer (I put it for 5mins, 200C)
• 2 spring onion, cut to half
• 1 pc of ginger, roughly 1 inch
• 4 bulbs of garlic, skin removed
• 5 litres of water

Steps:

1. Put the trotters and carcass in the pot along with 2 litres of the water.  Leave it to boil.
2. Then drain and wash the trotters and carcass. Scrap the skin and bones off those scum.
3. Then put all the balance ingredients plus the trotters and carcass in another clean pot and boil.
4. Next there are two options. You can lower down the fire and boil for 10hours. Second option, use the thermal pot. Once the water boil, leave it to boil another 20mins on low fire and move it into the thermal pot. Repeat the boil for 30mins 8hrs later and do this for 3days.
5. By the fourth day, it should be ready. If you have heavier taste bud, season with some soy sauce, otherwise, you may served it this way.

The noodle:

Ingredients:

• 400g bread flour
• 180ml water

Steps:

1. Pour the flour into the noodle maker.
2. Start the machine and add in the water.
3. Boil some salted water with oil and cook the noodle.
4. Can served with eggs, corn, endamame, flower fish cake, seaweed strips, carrot, charsiew, spring onion, etc

Sup Ekor or Oxtail Soup

Just had the felling of drinking those Malay type of soup and so, I bought a bag of oxtail from the butcher the other day and wanted to try cooking it myself.

Here it goes .

Ingredients:

• 500-600g of oxtail
• 2 teaspoon of cumin seed
• 1 star anise
• some dried chills (I omitted this cause my daughter is drinking, she don't like it spicy)
• a small piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 carrot cut big chunk
• 1 potato cut chunk
• 1 tomato, quartered
• a little oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• a handful of chopped spring onion
• a handful of parsley
• half a big onion, sliced and fried till crispy, for serving
• 1.5l water

Steps:

1. Wash the oxtail, and dry it.
2. Pound the star anise and cumin seed together till it is quite fine and form a paste. put them in the muslin cloth.
3. Pan fry the oxtail till brown all side, leave the cinnamon stick in the oil too.
4. Put the oxtail, cinnamon stick and the paste in muslin cloth in the pot (I uses the pressure cooker). Add in the water. Boil for 2hours. I boil mine on high for 15mins and low fire for another 15mins. If you using chilli, add in now too.
5. Add in the potato, carrot and tomato and cooked for another 2hours (mine another 20mins).
6. Season before serving with salt and top with the rest of the ingredients.

Collagen Broth

I saw someone posted  collagen broth that she used as soup based and has lots of goodness, I decided to google it and give it a try.

It is sort of almost the same as preparing the soup based for ramen, but shorter time and less ingredients. There is no onion, leek, shallots, etc

I used mine for my ramen served with kimchi, shredded seaweed and air fried beef fingers slices.

Ingredients:

• a big handful, roughly 500g of chicken feet
• 1kg of bone marrow (that's the type of name labelled for the bone) 
• 1 chicken carcass
• 4l of water

Steps:

1. Boiled some water and placed the bone in there to boil for about 4-6mins. Washed the bones clean
2. Then put all the ingredients in the big pot and boil for 3-4hrs. Mine is sort of a cheat. I used the thermos cooker pot and I boiled it for 40mins, placed in the cooker pot for over night and boil it again and leave it there for another 3-4hrs.
3. Used the filter to filter the soup before storing in the container. I have one just in the fridge that I'm using it now and the other container in the freezer coz I'll be using it later.
4. Season with salt before using or you can omit that if you are like me, prefer the original taste.

Home Made Ramen

I love ramen and so does the little girl. Since this week, I managed to get the chicken carcass and pork bones, we are cooking ramen today.

For the broth:
Ingredients:

• 2 chicken carcass, roughly 300g
• 1 pork ham leg, roughly 800g
• 3 tablespoon of salt
• 1 onion, cut to 4wedges
• 6pcs of garlic, smashed with skin intact
• a pinch of crushed pepper
• 8 slices of ginger
• 1.5l water

Methods:

Washed the chicken carcass with salt (scrub) and hot water. Rinse the pork leg with hot water. This is to remove all the dirt and smell if there is any.

As usual, I try to save some gas or electricity, so I used the thermos cooker. Dump all ingredients in, bring it to boil on high and then lower the fire and leave it to boil for 25mins. Moved it into the thermos cooker. Leave it overnight. Boil it again for another 25mins on the next morning and I uses it on the next day though the recipe I found online cook it for 2-3days. It is really up to you how thick and flavourful you want the broth to be. Anyway, no salt for the soup since I'm using the pork ham leg that is already salty.

For the noodle, the original recipe found online asked for kan sui (alkaline water) but I dont have it and dont like it, so I'm using egg yolk and soda bicarbonate to substitute it.

Ingredients:

• 600g of bread flour
• 4 egg yolk
• 300ml water
• 1/2tablespoon of soda bicarbonate

Methods:

1. Pulse the bread flour and soda bicarbonate with the yolks, one by one. 
2. Add in the water, little by little caused you don't want the mixture to be too moist. The dough should be crumbly and gravel like.
3. Remove the dough from the mixer. Use the hand to press the mixture together to form proper dough balls. I have bout 8 balls. 
4. Flatten each ball and run it through the largest setting of your pasta roller a few times, folding it each time. Do it till the dough is smooth out. 
5. Fold it till square and stack up in a container, covered with wet towels. Store it in the fridge. The recipe called it for overnight, but I had it for about 5hrs.
6. Use the pasta roller and use the thinner setting to flatten the dough. Then use the pasta machine to cut the dough. I had two types, one the thinner one for the girls, at her request and the thicker one for us.
7. Upon cutting up the noodles, dry them on rack or hang it on the chopstick to dry. Now with the cool weather, it takes about 20mins to dry them up.
8. After drying, you can either cook it directly in a pot of boiling water or store it in the fridge. But prior to storing, do dust with some flour. Since it is dried, it requires a lot lesser flour to keep them apart. 
9. On the cooking part, after cooking it on the boiling water for about 3mins, pour the noodle into cold water to give it a springy taste.

Homemade Egg Noodle Soup

Finally unpacked my wedding anniversary cum valentine's pressie from hubby. It arrives late afternoon on the day before our shipment arrives, so I wasn't too keen to get it unpack coz the whole place is so messy and not that I have the time to do anything with it yet.

And, the first thing I made was egg noodle. The girl loves noodle and I'm sort of worried that the dried noodle is not that healthy after all compared to the one mommy made with some love of course.. hehehe... :p

The noodle was served with honey soy pan fried pork (the pork was sliced, marinated with soy sauce and honey only, then pan fried with some olive oil).

After searching and searching, I finally settled for the recipe from http://chefwo.com/update-version-egg-noodle-recipe/ with some modifications to the method since I'm not using hand to do this.

Ingredients

• 500gm all purpose flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 3/4 cup of cold water
• 1 1/4 tsp of salt

Method

1. Put in all the dry ingredients in the big bowl of the magi mix and then the egg and cold water.
2. Blend with the dough mixer for about 5mins.
3. Leave it to set for an hour while I go prepare the pork to marinade, cut the broccoli and setup the noodle maker (also a new toy.. kekeke)
4. Take it out and knead and use the noodle maker to cut it as per instruction. Remember to keep dusting with flour. I used like almost another cup of flour for it.
5. Time to test your noodle perfection. Hold one strand and pull, you should be able to pull it very long! Isn’t it great!
6. Since I don't have a noodle dryer/rack and lack of time, what I did was laid it on the top of a big container straight to dry.
7. While drying, pan fried the pork, boil the soup, add in the broccoli and then just dump all the noodle in it.
8. Served... slurp slurp..

Next time, I'm gonna try putting in more eggs, less water.

Ham Choy (Salted Vege) Taufu Soup

Ingredients:

1. 1-2 blocks of soft silken Taufu (depend to how much taufu you want to have in your soup) - I use those fr the market small pieces one, not the box packet from supermarket
2. 50g of salted vege (pre soaked in water) - cut to slices
3. 3 cups of ikan bilis stock (add some ginger in it)
4. 2pcs of sour plum
5. half a white promfret (lightly marinated with pepper and salt) - cut to bite pieces
6. few slices of squid
7. 2 pieces of fresh shitake mushroom (sliced)
8. 1 tomato (chopped to small pieces)
9. pepper for seasoning

Steps:

1. Bring the stock to boil.
2. Add in sour plum, salted vege, tomato and mushroom.
3. After about 2 mins, add in taufu, fish and squid.
4. Season with pepper before serving.

Various Food

Drunken prawn with herbal soup based...




Nothing special bout the fish, it is the dip. Pickled lime with fish sauce and fried ginger with garlic..



Baked chicken with cheese filling:



Char siew tar pao for CNY eve dinner:


CNY eve dinner:

Random Pic of Food

Sour Fish Soup



Rib Stew with Mushroom and Dry Mussel





Bake Prawn

Glutinous Rice Fish Ball Soup

Ingredients:
- 3tablespoon of glutinous rice (soaked for at least 4hrs)
- 500g fish paste (I bought ready made)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 small onion (chopped)
- pinch of pepper
- 5 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon of miso paste
- 1 teaspoon of chopped chilli
- 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
- a dash of sesame oil


1. Mix soy sauce, onion, chilli, pepper and fish paste till even.
2. Formed to small ball shape.
3. Boil the water.
4. Coat the fish ball with the glutious rice. Add in to the boiling water.
5. Mix the fish sauce, sesame oil and miso paste in the serving bowl.
6. When all the balls float up, pour everything to the bowl. Ready to serve.

Prawn Noodle

Ingredients:

- 450g of prawn and shell (remove shell and head and keep aside for the soup), deveined
- sawi (no kangkung in my fridge), roughly 200g
- 4 pieces of dried lar mien (my mom got that from klang for us)
- 6 cups of water for the soup and another 6 cups to cook the noodle
- 1 tablespoon of cane sugar
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 2 teaspoon of miso
- 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce
- half onion (chopped to small pieces)
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of sambal (dont ask recipe coz I got this fr my mom and dunno how it was prepared..)
- one piece of ginger (roughly bout 3cm size)

Method:
1. Boil the shell with the water and ginger for about 5mins. Leave it for another 5mins and remove the shell. Add in sugar and miso.
2. Boil the water and add in the noodle. Turn off the fire once the water boil again and leave the noodle there.
3. Heat up the wok, add in oil and saute the onions. Add in the sambal, and fry till it is fragrant.
4. Drain the noodle and add in to the wok. Lightly stir it.
5. Add in the soup, sawi and sweet soy sauce. Cover the wok and let it boil.
6. Mix the prawn with pepper and salt. Pour in to the wok. Cover for bout 2mins.
7. Done, ready to serve.

* Excluding the preparation of the soup, it takes about 15mins to cook the dish.

Creamy Macaroni

Last night, we had a very odd combo for dinner . We had creamy macaroni and ABC soup (including Sophie).




- Macaroni
- parmesan cheese
- mixed dried herbs (those use for pizza)
- cream cheese
- butter





Sophie's one with added stuff, she get potato and carrot from the ABC soup + some fresh milk, blend to small pieces.
She loves it and was busy biting while playing with her teething biscuit.

Dry Curry Okra and Drop Egg Potato Soup with Fish Cake

Tonight's dinner...

Mee Huen Kueh

Feel like eating mee huen kueh yesterday so boil some ikan bilis soup, top it up with fish cake and fish ball....



Had mine served with some dried chilli...