Mu- Saengchae (Spicy Korean Radish )

I saw this dish in a Korean cookbook and immediately felt a urge to make it at home.  I combined two recipes together to bring out the best spicy Korean radish dish for myself.  I liked this as it was spicy and went well with rice or jajangmyeon.

Usually this is served as a Korean side dish called Banchan (반찬).  I ate it with rice and toasted seaweed, made Korean pancake, made omelet with it, added it in my Korean spicy instant noodle, or just have it as a side dish to my everyday meal.  Surprisingly my little Edda loves this and she didn't complaint that this was spicy.  I guess I trained them well.  Evy on the other hand, doesn't like this banchan.

Ingredients:

1- 1.5 lb Korean radishes, julienned into 2-inch long strips

1 tsp. salt

3 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1-inch piece of ginger, grated

2 Tbsp. red pepper powder

2 tsp. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. pure sesame oil

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp. soy sauce

Method:

1.  Put julienned radishes into a big bowl.  Add in 1 tsp. of salt, mix well and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Drain and gently squeeze the water out.  Place in another bowl.

2.  Add in cut scallion and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well with your hands (wear a glove) or until the radishes are red from the red pepper powder.

3.  Keep in the refrigerator and serve as a cold side dish.  Should be able to keep up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

[S$20 Budget Meal] Steamed Tilapia Fillets, Eggs with Napa Cabbage and Seaweed Tofu Gochujang Soup

Above was one of the everyday dinners I made at home.  I was trying to be healthier so I steamed my fish in my steamer basket.  Usually I would pour hot oil to finish my steamed fish (made the fish glossy and shiny),  but decided to skip this step with the "healthier" in mind.  I added eggs in my napa cabbage because I wanted to submit this dinner to $20 Budget Meal.  This veggie dish could be cooked without adding eggs.

Total cost for this dinner was about $6.87 and I was not budgeting this meal at all, it was just a meal I prepared often at home.  It would be even cheaper without adding soup.  I would beak down the cost and provide recipes in the next page.  Again, it prove to me that it is so affordable to cook healthy meal at home, however I do need my break on weekend, it's great to eat a meal cooked by someone else and not have to stay for the clean up.  :-P

I am submitting this to "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Steamed Tilapia Fillets with Ginger and Scallion

Cost of ingredients:

3 Tilapia fillets = $4.20

Ginger = 20c

Scallion = 20c

Total for this dish = $4.60

First rinse the fillets and place it on a steamer basket or ceramic plate.  Then, spread the ginger slices that had been soaked with soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil (for at least an hour) on top.  Lastly top with some thinly sliced scallion and steam for 15 minutes.

Eggs with Napa Cabbage

Cost of ingredients:

1/4 Napa cabbage = 50c

2 large eggs = 17c

Garlic = 10c

Total for this dish = $0.77

Wash and cut the Napa cabbage into pieces.  Heat up wok with some cooking oil.  When heated, add in the chopped garlic, stir-fry until almost golden, add in the harder part of the Napa cabbage (the white part), stir-fry for a little while, then add in the rest of the Napa cabbage, stir-fry well.  Add in salt and mix well.  Add some water and a little chicken powder.  Then pour beaten eggs on top, lightly stir until the eggs are cooked.  Serve.

Seaweed Tofu Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) Soup

Cost of ingredients:

1/2 soft tofu = 50c

Seaweed = 50c

Gochujang = 40c

Garlic = 10c

Total for this dish = $1.50

The recipe for this soup can be found here and here.

Total cost for this dinner was $6.87.  It's cheaper than a chicken fried rice we order at take out.  Chicken fried rice here cost $7.95 not including tax and tips. 

No Bake Strawberry Yogurt Cheese Cake

I saw this easy no bake cheese cake recipe while browsing the Albertson's ad. online.  What attracted me to this recipe was that yogurt was used instead of sour cream.  Most of the no bake recipe that I came across used sour cream, which was not in my shopping list.  So, I was glad to find this recipe.

Just liked the name implies, no baking required, just mixed all the ingredients together, add in gelatin and let it set in the refrigerator.  It was not bad at all, I quite liked it, especially it was so easy to make.  Definitely can be a dessert that I would bring to a potluck. 

Happy Easter!!

I'm also submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #6 Say Cheese (April 2011) hosted by Jean of Noms I Must.

Recipe inspired by Albertson's monthly ad.

Ingredients:

1 envelope (0.25oz) unflavored gelatin 

1/4 cup boiling water

2 (8oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup strawberry yogurt (or any flavored you prefer)

Raspberries preserved, as needed (optional)

1 prepared 8" graham cracker pie crust (or make your own)

Method:

1.  In a medium glass or ceramic bowl, use an electric mixer to blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Fold in yogurt.

2.  In a small bowl, empty the gelatin and add boiling water.  Stir until gelatin dissolves thoroughly.

3.  Fold in the gelatin mixture into the cream cheese mixture until incorporated.

4.  Pour mixture into the pie crust.   Drop tsp. of raspberries preserved on top and try to swirl it with a toothpick.

5.  Cover with a cling wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.  Slice and serve.

Dried Laver Anchovies Soup (野生紫菜汤)

This was a soup I learned from my girlfriend while studying in university ages ago.  Both my hubby and I loved this soup a lot and now my two girls also loved it.  I even have this recipe published in a cookbook called The Best Soups in the World by Clifford A. Wright. 

This soup was not a stranger to a lot of people, it can easily be one of the rotation of the soups made at home.  But in case you don't know, I am sharing the recipe here.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a round dried laver (a type of seaweed)

1/4 cup dried anchovies, rinsed

1/4 of a large carrot or 1/2 of small carrot, thinly sliced

2 medium eggs or 1 large egg (add one more if you love egg), beaten

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

1000ml water

Salt to taste

Chicken stock powder to taste

(or you can use chicken stock instead of water and minus the chicken stock powder)

Method:

1.  In a pot, turn on heat and add in sesame oil.  Then, add in dried anchovies and stir-fry until slightly golden, add in water.  Let it boil.

2.  When boiling, turn the heat to low.  Wash the dried laver with cold water (if will soften when wash) and add it into the soup.  Stir well.

3.  Add in carrot, stir well.  Add in beaten eggs slowly to create egg drop effect.

4.  Season to taste with salt and chicken stock powder.  Skip this step if used salted chicken stock.  Simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

Haiji White Bun Using Pullman Tin

When I went back to Malaysia in 2008, a Pullman pan was on my to-buy-list.  I was fascinated and wanted to get one to play with it.  I was in luck as I easily found this pan in the bakery supply shop, it came in three sizes, short, medium and long.  The one I bought was the shortest one, 4" x 4" x 8.5".  You can see the picture of my Pullman pan in the following page.  While searching for Pullman pan recipe, I came across that this pan was also called Pain de Mie.  Pain de Mie is a fine-textured, moist bread baked in a special lidded pan.  The lid gives this bread a flat top and perfectly square-edges slices.

While blog hopping one day, I came across a Haiji White Bun recipe.  This recipe really caught my attention because the blogger said it was super soft and delicious.  I browsed the ingredients and noticed that it didn't have bread improver or bread softener that I was trying to avoid using.  So, immediately I bookmarked it with the intention of trying it out.  And of course finally gotten to use the Pullman pan that I bought three years ago. :-)
 
Verdict:  Super soft and super yummy!  I am so glad I tried this recipe as I will be making it again and again.  I highly recommend anyone to give this recipe a try.


Recipe adapted from CosyBake.  But I was using a bread maker and a Pullman tin (Pain de Mie).  If you don't have a bread maker, you can refer to her link for the traditional method or use a loaf pan.

Ingredients:

250g bread flour

3g instant yeast

200g milk

10g sugar

3g salt

10g butter (I used 1 Tbsp.)

Method:

1.  In a bread-maker, add the following in order.  First add milk, butter, sugar, flour, salt and lastly make an indentation to one side of the flour and add yeast.  Turn the bread-maker to dough function and let it does it work.

2.  After the dough is done.  Take it out, cut it into three portion.  Punch the air out and roll each into a cylinder shape that would fit the Pullman tin (4"x 4"x 8.5").  

3.  Spray the Pullman tin with baking spray with flour and place the dough in.  Cover the tin 2/3 with the lid, so that you can see the progress of the proofing.

4.  Let it rest until it rise until the picture below, 1 inch before reaches the top (50-60 minutes).  You can use the normal loaf pan if you don't have a Pullman tin.  Preheat the oven the 350'F.

5.  Spray the lid of the tin with baking spray with flour and cover it like picture below.

6.  Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.  Then, open the lid and bake for 5-8 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

7.  When it's done, take it out and turn the bread out to cool on a wire rack.  Top side up.  Brush the top with melted honey.  And let it cool completely.

8.  Wrap it with cling wrap and place in an air-tight container at room temperature.  Serve with your favorite jam.

[S$20 Budget Meal] Ginger Chicken with Rice Wine, Spicy KangKong and Laver Anchovies Soup

Recently, I spotted a  Singapore "$20 Budget Meal" event that got me interested.  For US dollar, it would be $15 Budget Meal.  You have to cook two dishes and a soup or a one dish meal that priced less than S$20/ US$15.  Frankly, I never really counted how much each dinner that I prepared at home cost me.   But I believe it would be less than $15.  For April, one of the dishes must have an egg as an ingredient, so above was what we had on April 11, 2011 which I submitted to this event.

I am submitting this to "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.

Dried Laver (野生紫菜)Anchovies Soup.  The cost of this soup is US$1.00.  The recipe can be found here. 

Cost of ingredients:
Dried laver - 50 cent
2 medium eggs - 20 cent (on sales)
1/4 of a carrot - 10 cent
1/4 cup of dried anchovies - 20 cent

Spicy KangKong/Morning Glory/ On Choy with shrimp paste in soy bean oil.  The cost of this dish is US$2.24.  The recipe can be found here.

Cost of ingredients:
Kangkong - $1.50
1 Shallot - 20 cent
Shrimp paste in soy bean oil - 54 cent

Ginger Chicken with Rice Wine.  The cost for this dish is US$1.80.  This recipe can be found here.

Cost of ingredients:
1 skinless and boneless chicken breast - $1.30 (on sales)
Ginger - 25 cent
Wood Ear - 25 cent
Fermented sweet glutinous rice wine - FREE (given by a friend)

The sweet glutinous rice wine

I added the wine and residue together in stir-frying this dish thus the cloudy gravy you see above.  But sweet and flavorful.

To sum thing up, the above meal only cost me US$5.04.  Served 4.  A healthy home cook meal at a fairly cheap price.  All you need to have is a little time at home to prepare this wonderful meal for you and your family.  By doing this event and really sat down and counted the amount of each ingredient I spent on this meal made me realized that home cook meal is really cheap.  :-)  Imagine, for $20, I can eat four meals at home!!

Deep Fried Italian Panko Shrimps

Have you ever wonder how the chef deep-fried the shrimps without it curled up?  One time when we were visiting our friend's restaurant, her chef made a similar dish for my girls.  His was without seasonings, just dip in flour, then beaten egg, then panko and deep fried.  What caught my eyes was that the shrimps were not curled up so of course I had to pick one to examining it.  When I tasted the shrimp, I sort of gotten the idea of how it was made.  I would share with you the secret in my next page.

I found the unseasoned one quite bland, so I seasoned mine and added dried herbs.  We all loved this, but who could resist this type of fried food anyway?  Flavorful and crispy, hard to stop at a few.

Ingredients:

18 Extra large shrimps (26-30/lb), cleaned and cut like picture below, set aside.  Notice how I cut the shrimp?  It will straighten the shrimp and won't make it curl when deep-frying.

Self-raising flour, about 3 heap Tbsp.

Italian seasonings, few dashes

Salt, 1 tsp.

Peppers, 1/2 tsp.

Water as needed

Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), as needed

Method:

1.   In a bowl, add in appropriate self-raising flour (depending on how many shrimps you want to make), add in some Italian seasoning and season with salt and peppers.  Then, slowly pour in a little water at a time while stirring the mixture into a thick batter.

2.  In another bowl, pour in the panko (as needed).  You can omit the panko if you don't have it on hand.

3.  Heat up a wok with medium heat oil.  Take a piece of the shrimp, dip into the batter and then coat it well with panko and slowly place into the hot oil and deep-fry until golden brown.  You can put 4 shrimps to deep-fry at one go.  Drain on paper towel and serve hot with the condiment of your choice.  Or serve it plain without condiment since it's already seasoned.

Alternative:  You can dip the shrimp into beaten egg, and then the seasoned panko (add the seasonings into the panko and mixed well), before deep-frying.