Singapore Style Fried Turnip Cake (星州炒蘿蔔糕)

New years is time where I get a lot of 蘿蔔糕. My dad makes batches every year and I make sure I get a batch or 2.
As much as I love 蘿蔔糕, I would like to eat it in a different way then just pan frying it. (I don't do the steam option myself but some people like it)

One dish I really like eating is Singapore Style Fried Turnip Cake (星州炒蘿蔔糕)
It's awesome and can be a full meal, although it lacks the veggies you should always eat....

It's actually really easy to make and and great for lunch.

Singapore Style Fried Turnip Cake (星州炒蘿蔔糕)

This makes 1 plate Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• Half a boneless Chicken Thigh Meat (cooked or uncooked will add to cooking time), can be replaced by pork if you like pork but I would not recommend Beef as it's a bit too chewy
• 4-6 "squares" of Turnip cakes 
• 1 Green Onion
• 1 Egg
• 1 TSP of Chili Garlic Sauce

Directions

1. Cut up your turnip cake into bite size pieces. I make mine into about 3/4 inch cubes.
2. Heat up a pan to medium heat and toss it in. Add the Chili Garlic Sauce
3. If your turnip cake is not pan fried yet and you like a crispy exterior, start cooking it first.
4. While your cake is slowly cooking, cut up the meat into bite size pieces.
5. If the meat is already cooked and just needs to be reheated, throw it in the cake that are still crisping up
6. If the meat is raw, plate the cake when it's cooked nice and crispy and then cook the meat.
7. Dice your Green onion
8. Scramble your egg and add it in.
9. Add in the green onion when the egg is almost done cooking.
10. Plate the dish when the egg is cooked

Very fast if your meat is already cooked or if your cakes are pre-pan fried :)

Tip: to get nice solid egg pieces, before you add in the egg, dig a whole in the middle of your pan, then pour the egg in there. Give is half a min to start firming up on the underside then mix in the other ingredients with the egg.

Planting Garlic Pt 1

One of the things I was considering growing was garlic. I actually wanted to grow some unique breed but I figured I should start with the basics first.

I've read mix reports about growing garlic in containers. Some say don't do it cause they won't grow and some other people had success.

Based on what I can tell, I believe I just need a big enough container so that the garlic doesn't know it's being grown indoors and i should be fine.

So I used my biggest container that I have and planted 5 cloves of a Quebec Garlic that I got at the farmers market.

I figured if they can grow it in Quebec which has slightly colder weather then I have, I can plant these outdoors next winter and have garlic in the fall.

For now, I'll test indoors.

These were planted on Jan 16 2016. I picked the bigger cloves that have already started sprouting. 

Target date for readiness will be Aug/Sept, but since it's inside my house and not getting winterover, it might be ready before the fall.

Bean Sprouts Noodle

This is probably one of my favourite noodles.
I always ordered it when we went to yum cha as a kid.
It's so easy to make that anyone can make it at home!

It's also very versatile. Add in additional things like meat and more veggies to make it a complete meal.

Bean Sprouts Noodle

Ingredients

• 400g Bean Sprouts
• 2 Green Onion
• 1 Yellow Onion
• Noodles - Depends on the size, I used 6 150g dried noodles in the picture.
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1-2 tbsp Soy Sauce (to taste)
• White pepper powder (optional to taste)
• Meat (optional)

Directions

1. In a pot, add some water, set temperature to high and boil the water.
2. Wash the Bean Sprouts in a tub of water. Get rid of anything that's mushy and limpy. 
3. Your water should be boiling by  now. Add your noodles into the pot and stir. Cook until 80-90% cooked. 
4. While the noodle is cooking, wash your green onions and cut into 2 inch strips.
5. Cut your yellow onion into strips as well.
6. Your noodles should be done by now, pour the noodles into a metal strainer to strain the water.
7. Let it sit there and drain as much liquid as possible so you're not bringing it over when you add the noodle to the wok.
8. In a wok, set the heat on medium and let the wok heat up. Cook the garlick, yellow onion, white part of the green onion and bean sprouts.
9. Bean sprouts are cooked when they are translucent.When most of the bean sprouts are translucent, add in the noodles.
10. Mix the noodle well with the rest of the items in the wok. Pour the Soy Sauce in a circle pattern around the wok and noodles. Mix well.
11. Pepper is optional so you can add this after to your own plate if you like.

And you're done!!

Tip: If you want to add meat to make this a complete meal, cook the meat at the beginning and then remove it before you cook the rest so it doesn't become too tough. Add it back into the dish once the noodles is done cooking.

Tip 2: You can add more if you like more bean Sprouts. I normally add more then what's listed just because I love my veggies!

Germinating Lettuce Seeds

I'm trying to start a garden this year and I figured I can get a head start with practicing doing a bit of growing indoors during the winter.

According to what I read, Lettuce does well in cool temperature and considering my house is anywhere between 15-19 degrees Celsius, it's supposed to be perfect temperature for growing lettuce.

I've tried 3 different methods of germinating seeds so far.

1. Direct to soil - complete fail. 0/7 seeds germinated.

2. Paper towel method - 2/4 after 1 week. 

3. Just water - 3/7 in 3 days, 5/7 in 4 days, 7/7 in 5 days.

Seems like so far I have the best success rate with just water method.

It is the fastest and easiest way to germinate seeds and when I compare the roots in the paper towel method and just water, the water one generates bigger taps in the 3 days then the paper towel does in 1 week. 

For the water method, I used a small opaque container to block out all light. Added enough water so that the seeds are just floating around. 

I kept my container in the kitchen where the temperature is more consistent and warmer so it doesn't drop below 15 degrees Celsius. 

Change the water ever day.

You'll start seeing the seeds split after 1 day. Then day 2 little roots will start emerging. Then day 3 it'll curl :)

I've heard tap roots are sensitive during transplant so my fingers are cross I didn't hurt them. We'll see how many grows after another 2 weeks :)

I feel like doing the Totoro dance to make them grow

Okonomiyaki

I actually took a bit of time off this holiday which gave me time to play around with recipes as well as trying new things out.

One of the items I've been meaning to try for a while is making Okonomiyaki.
I know you can easily buy the powder mix and mix it in but I really didn't want to do that.
I was determined to make it from scratch. So after some searching, I found this recipe and decided to try.

It was pretty easy to make surprisingly.
I was able to get the Nagaimo from my local Chinese supermarket.
And it turns out it grates easily.
I thought I would be dealing with a potato since it is a mountain potato. But it turns out it grates even easier then cheese.

Seeing how all the work to making Okonomiyaki comes from shredding of cabbage and other things you want to add in it. It seems like making this from scratch vs a mix is honestly  not that much more work and totally worth it.

Give the recipe a try. So yummy and really reminds me of what I had in Kyoto :)

Snowman Cake

I have 2 god daughter's whose birthday is around Christmas. One before and one after. So we always celebrate their birthday at the Christmas gathering.
This year, they requested a Snowman cake.

Luckily, I had some fondant left and I was able to make it.
It was actually pretty easy.
Cover the cake with white, color some of the fondant and roll it out for the hat.
The extra strip on the hat is optional.
Then use a knife to make the markings on the hat.

The most difficult part was making black fondant because black is hard to make from white.
I started off mixing in all the colors together to make the fondant darker. Then I added the black coloring. I find that has the best result. If you try for black right away, it'll turn grey because the fondant is white.

If I didn't have fondant, I would have used white chocolate ganache cream to cover the cake and color the cream and pipe the hat etc etc.

Happy decorating.

Curried Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Fall is time for pumpkins and all the wonderful winter squashes. I love pumpkin soup. It's yummy on it's own or as a soup base for noodles. If you want to use it with noodles, try cooking frozen Udon noodles in with the soup. 

The first time I made pumpkin soup, I just cut it up, peeled, boiled and blended it. The roasting method takes a little longer but I find it's less work overall because peeling can be a pain. It also adds another flavour to the soup because it's now roasted.

This recipe will make everything from scratch including the soup base! You can replace the soup base with instant broth if you already have it available.

Curried Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Medium size pumpkin
• 2 onions
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 chicken shell
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garam masala
• pinch of nut meg
• Sprinkle of Savory powder
• Sprinkle of cinnamon powder
• 2-3 L water
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
   
2. Cut the pumpkin in half and use a spoon to the scrap of the insides. (save seeds to roast for pumpkin seed snack)
3. Cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces and line them into baking trays. If there's an empty space, add the onions as well. There's no need to cut up the onion.
4. Add a bit of water to the trays and then put it into the preheated oven to bake. Baking process should take 30 min to an hour depending on your oven, size of your pumpkin etc.
5. While the pumpkin is baking, get your soup base ready. Start with 2L of water in a pot and bring it to a boil.
6. Add the chicken shell to the water along with the bay leaves and let it simmer for the entire time you bake the pumpkin. Add more water as necessary. 
7. You can poke the pumpkin with a fork to test it's readiness. Once it's soft it's ready for blending.
   
8. If you have a blender that can withstand heat, use a spoon and scrape the pumpkin meat right into the blender. Add a little bit of the chicken stock to help it blend.
   If you do not have a blender that can withstand heat, scoop all the pumpkin meat into a big bowl to let it cool. Blend after it's cooled.
9. Once you're done blending the pumpkin, blend the onion with the garlic as well using the same method.
10. Remove the chicken shell from the stock and add the pumpkin and onion puree into the pot with the chicken stock.
11. Add the cumin, garam masala and nut meg and sprinkle savory and cinnamon powder. Let the mixture simmer for 5-10 mins for the flavours to combine together.
12. Taste and add as much salt as you want to bring out the flavours.

Yummy on it's own or as a soup base for Udon noodles!!!

Enjoy!