Chinese Amaranth In Chicken Soup(Daun Bayam Ayam Sop) Yin Choi (苋菜)

Chinese Amaranth or called as Chinese Spinach or Bayam(Malay) or yin choi(苋菜)(Chinese) is a common cooking vegetable in any Asian household .This type of vegetable is available all year round in tropical country and also available in any Asia market throughout US and A.Quite a number of people mistake Chinese spinach for water spinach. This veg's has long slender stems with oval-shaped leaves, while water spinach has hollow stems.The leaves may be light green with a roundish shape or dark green with deep red veins in the center. There is a variety with dark green leaves, narrow with pointed tips. The root of mature amaranth is an excellent vegetable. It is white and cooked with tomatoes or tamarind gravy. It has a milky taste and is alkaline.Amaranth greens are believed to help enhance eyesight.It works best in quick soups as it cooks quickly. The cooked stems are crunchy and the leaves tender and sweet.

Ingredients:

1 bunch Chinese Amaranth about 1 lb (snap about 2 inch each,discard the end stem)washed
1/2 box soft tofu,cut 1/2x1/2
50 gm fresh anchovies for broth,washed
2 boneless chicken thigh,cut cubes
100 gm fried anchovies
5 shallot,peeled and fried
4 liter water

salt to taste


Method:

1:Prepare medium stock pot with water at high heat.When water rolling boil,place in anchovies and boneless chicken ,reduce heat to medium.Simmer anchovies for 30-40 minutes,then discard anchovies.

2:Place in amaranth(bayam) in the pot,increase heat to high.When broth rolling boil,add in cut tofu and salt.Remove soup from heat immediately.

3:Dish soup into bowl,sprinkle with some fried anchovies and fried shallot.Serve warm.

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Roti Bakar (Homemade Coconut Jam with Toast)

One morning I told Mishu that I'm going to make her peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast but she said when she was in Malaysia Ah Ma(her grandma) make her sandwich look like peanut butter,it's taste good but not peanut better.She said it's has brown and yellow color taste sweet and sticky..Then I asked her it's kaya(coconut jam) with margarine but she said she have no idea what it's..I guess my mom spread kaya on bread for her..Then I decided to make some kaya since Mishu gave me an idea what she want to eat at for breakfast..Kaya or coconut jam is a popular local jam typically spread on toast,local delicateness or sweet dessert.This is my 3rd time making kaya but each time I experiment different recipe .This batch of kaya recipe was created by myself..When we mentioned coconut jam we thought this jam must be really hard to make and have lot of work..Actually it's not!! The only downside of this task is the cooking time.Have to keep stirring the ingredients in double boiler for at least an hour.

Ingredients:For Kaya(Coconut Jam)

8 large eggs

1 can premium coconut milk 400 ml

1 1/2 cup sugar ( adjust to your own sweetness)

4-5 sleeve pandan leave(screwpine leaves),washed before tie knot

Method:

1:Prepare double boiler with water at medium heat.Whisk all eggs with 1 cup of sugar until frothy.Then pour the eggs mixture in the double boiler,use a hand beater to stir the egg mixture from time to time.Slowly add in coconut milk while stirring..

2:In another small stock pot caramelize the remaining sugar(1/2) at low heat,then pour into the coconut mixture to get a brownish texture.Reduce the heat to low.

3:Keep stirring the mixture(about 5 minutes) for 90 minutes or until the jam thicken and creamy.

4:Remove the jam from heat and let it cool completely before remove the pandan and store in container.Store at room temperature (60-70 F) or can store in fridge after a week.(I believed after storing coconut jam in fridge it's taste different,lost the wonderful coconut fragrant)

5:Spread coconut jam on bread,toast or cracker..

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Fried Marinated Rib End in Ginger and Garlic

It's been awhile since I'm back from Malaysia but I still miss my mom home cooking..Well,what to do then ?? Of course, I have to cook all my favorite food myself if I want to eat it,right? These day, I tried to cook the food in small portion. That mean cook daily and not more storage in fridge in big quality.The reason is hubby have to eat certain food for his special diet and we have to cut down Mishu's eating portion after she came back from vacation..That means honeymoon period over!!..The only person in our home is still not "on diet" is ME!! As I always said,eat first worry about diet tomorrow,right?

Watching my mom cooked dinner daily,I must really respect her with her cooking skill and expertise..She can cooked 4-5 dishes daily in an hour period!! No matter what she cook,she must use fresh ingredients or spices..She always used fresh ginger to marinate her meat..it's not slice or chop fresh ginger!! she pounded the ginger before extract it's juice to marinate.And now I learn from my mom how to use fresh extract ginger juice to marinate any meat too...it's really taste great!! something different for a change,I said!! Furthermore, ginger is also consider as herb and it's good for body..This dish is really easy to cook...Just dump everything with the meat and marinate overnight..the next day just fried or bake it..but I prefer fried because it's taste good!! lol!

Ingredients:


2 lbs chop rib end or any type of meat...washed and drained

4-5 inch fresh old ginger,washed and chopped before pounded to extract the juice3

1 bulb fresh garlic,peeled and pounded with ginger

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp sugar2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp ground white pepper

*marinate above ingredients overnight*


1 cup flour +1/2 rice flour
1 cup oil


Method:


1:Heat oil in medium stock pot or fryer at medium heat at 350 F.Remove marinate meat from fridge,coat each meat with flour mixture.


2:Shake excess flour from meat before place into the hot oil.Repeat the same procedure but do not overlapped the meat when frying.


3:Fry until the meat golden brown about 15 minutes..Remove fried meat from fryer into a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.


4:Serve warm with dipping chili sauce.

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Winter Melon(Dong Gua) in Pork Soup

Recently I visited a new open Asian market in Flushing,Queens..I was surprised the new Asian market location inside a Mall.A friend told me during the promotion period,parking is FREE for the 1 st 3 hours.Since the parking is FREE and I never been to that market,why not? I realized the market products price is OK..maybe it's still in promotion period or maybe it's low compare with others market...who know? Since the price is reasonable I bought plenty of seafood ,fish,meat ,vegetables and dry groceries.One of the dish that I cooked two days ago was Winter Melon Pork soup..I used 1/2 of the winter melon cross-sectioned to make longan(dragon eyes) sweet soup and the other half for the pork soup. Winter melon has little taste but absorbs the flavours of the food it is cooked with. It is best in soups or stew.Winter melon has a reputation as an excellent detoxification .Hope it's really effective since I badly need detoxification after eating all the spicy and oily food.

Ingredients:

1/2 cross section winter melon,about 2 lbs(removed the skin,cut about 1 x 1)

3 section ribs,chop small,blanched with hot water to remove grease

4-5 dried small squid,washed

2 candy dates

salt to taste

4 liter water or more

some chop scallion for garnishing
Method:

1:Blanched the chop ribs with hot water to remove fats and grease.Prepare medium stock pot with water at high heat.When water rolling boil,place ribs into the pot.Reduce the heat to medium.

2:Simmer the stock for 30 minutes before add in dried cuttle fish,dates and winter melon..Cook for another 30-45 minutes before add in salt to taste.

3:Remove from heat and serve warm with some cut scallion.

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My Mom's Homemade Angku and O-Ku Kuih(Tea Leaves)

My mom make some angku and O-ku(tea leaf) kuih from scratch for her prayer..I helped her made the skin and etc..Unfortunately, I didn't write down the recipe while my mom was making the cake:too busy chatting.Anyway,my mom did packed some dried O-ku leaves(tea leaves) from her garden for me to bring home to States.So for now,I will just post some of the angku and O-ku photos ..Enjoy!!

steamed O-Ku

O-Ku(tea leaves cooked with oil)

angku kuih(steamed red cake)

mung bean filling







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