Char bee hoon (The Real Singapore Noodles)

Serves 4

1 handful of dried shrimp
1 handful of dried shitake mushrooms (about 5, depending on their size)
1 handful or bunch of dried rice vermicelli (about 100grams)
1 Chinese tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Chinese tablespoon mix of light soy and dark soy sauce
4 - 5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 handful of Chinese greens (I used choy sum or chye sim), cut into 3 inch pieces
2 - 3 tablespoons fried shallot oil
A bit of sesame oil and sugar
Ground white pepper to taste

Garnishes:

Sambal chili

Pickled green chilies

Fried shallots

1. Soak the shrimps in hot water, enough to fully cover them, for about 30 minutes.

2. Soak the mushrooms in hot water, enough to fully cover them, for 30 minutes.

3. Soak the rice vermicelli in tap or room temperature water for 20 minutes, then drain.

4.  Drain both the shrimp and mushrooms and reserve the soaking liquid, then add the oyster and soy sauce.

5. Slice the mushrooms, removing the stems and marinade them in a bit of soy, sesame oil and sugar.

6. In a mortar and pestle, pound the shrimps. Or you can chop them finely.

7. Chop your garlic.

8. Heat some shallot oil in a wok, then add the garlic and stir till you can smell the aroma. 

9. Add the pounded shrimps and fry, till you can smell that aroma too. 

10. Add the mushrooms, and fry them all together till it smells awesome. Then throw in your drained noodles.

11. Toss and add the reserved liquid (you may not have to use all of it). Keep frying and tossing, for about 5 minutes.

12. Add the greens and fry again for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat, and add a bit of extra sesame oil or finely ground white pepper, if you like. 

13. Garnish with sambal, green chilies and fried shallots. 

* There are so many versions of this dish as most cooks have their own way of preparation. But generally, these are the common ingredients (vegetarians can omit the shrimp and use oyster sauce that's made from mushrooms). 

Great version of fried bee hoon can also be seen on YouTube here on mummyicancook. 

I love the "bastardised" international versions of this dish too, it makes it so much easier to eat and you don't have to make extra dishes like a chicken curry to go along with it. SortedFood/Body Talk Daily have a really great skinny version. 

Although I love the video recipe, I reckon you need to soak the noodles in room temperature water, not hot water. So you can cook the noodles for longer and it will absorb all the other flavours in wok more. It's also more forgiving if you fry it for too long. If you soak it in hot water, not only does the flavours not seep into the noodles, the noodles will become soggy if you fry it for too long. 

Banana Ice Cream

I totally love this girl and her recipes, even though I'm not vegan!

I've made banana ice cream like this before (following Nicko's Kitchen's recipe) but Laura Miller has taken it to another level! No reason not to try this, so easy.

I also love her Chocolate Pudding recipe, which I've made before too.

Spam fries

1 can of Spam serves 4 (but it's really not enough!)

Spam

Oil

1) Cut into desired shape and fry till crispy!

I made two dipping sauces, one with mayonnaise and a Vietnamese hot sauce, and another with half and half of American yellow mustard and hot English mustard. 

Singapore mutton soup (Soup kambing)

Serves 4

Marinade:
About 700g mutton with bone (either shanks or ribs), chopped into 2 inches pieces
1 inch knob old ginger, roughly chopped
1 inch knob blue ginger/galangal, roughly chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6 small red shallots, roughly chopped
3 coriander roots
3 big green chillies, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon methi/fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoons fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
About 3 tablespoons groundnut oil for frying and making it into a paste

Soup:
41/2 cups beef/veal or chicken stock (I used store bought beef stock but if you have a home made one, even better)
2 cardamon pods, bruised
1/2 stick cinnamon
1 star anise
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste *
*Optional. The stock may already contain enough salt, and there's already pepper in the marinade

Garnish:
Fresh coriander leaves
Fried shallots
French baguette

1. In a mortar & pestle, food processor or hand blender, blitz the old ginger, blue ginger, garlic, shallots, coriander roots and green chilies together to form a paste (add some oil to make it come together)

2. In a wok, heat about 2 tablespoons of groundnut oil to medium. Fry the fenugreek, mustard and fennel seeds - be careful as they will pop as soon as you do. Quickly throw in the ground paste. Do not burn the fenugreek, mustard or fennel seeds.

3. Fry the spiced paste till it's fragrant, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the turmeric, curry powder, cumin and white pepper and fry for another minute or so, till it's fragrant. Remove from wok and set aside to cool.

4. Once it's cooled, mix it in with the mutton pieces. Marinade for at least 2 hours.

5. In a pot, bring the stock to a boil with the bruised cardamon pods, cinnamon stick and star anise. When it boils, add in the marinated meat with the spice paste. If there's any spice mix left in the bowl, add a bit of water and throw it all in the pot. Do not waste the paste.

6. Bring to boil for about 3-5 minutes and the lower the heat to the lowest possible and cover for about 2 -3 hours, or until the meat is tender.

7. Remove the meat from the bones and add it back to the soup. Pour in the coconut milk, and add the sugar. Taste to see if you need to add salt and white pepper. Simmer for another 30 minutes before serving.

8. Garnish with fried shallots and coriander leaves. Eat with French bread.

* Mutton is referred to as goat meat or the meat from an adult sheep. In this case, it's goat. I got mine from Tekka Market in Singapore and it's widely available there. Goat meat contains less cholesterol and is less fatty than beef or lamb. It has less calories too. 

If you can't find goat meat, you could probably use adult sheep - or if you can't find that either, you could use lamb. (Although I'm told in some European supermarkets they sometimes try to pass of adult sheep as lamb.)

Some stalls make their Soup Kambing thick, some thin, some not so oily, some with a film of oil on the top (my favourite type!). Although it uses traditional Indian ingredients, Soup Kambing is actually a Singaporean dish, according to Carry It Like Harry . There's no other dish similar in India. Sold mostly by Singaporean Muslim Indians, this rich and flavourful soup is very popular in Singapore and Malaysia, and probably in my top three favourite local dishes.

2 ingredients chocolate cake

3 eggs
165g bars of chocolate ( I used a mixture of milk and dark)


1. Preheat the oven to 170 Celsius.

2. Line and grease a round cake tin (6-7 inches) with baking paper.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the whites and place the whites in a large bowl. Keep the whites in the fridge till ready to use.

4. Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt it over a pot of simmering hot water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water).

5. When the chocolate has cooled, add the yolks and mix with a whisk.

6. Remove the whites from the fridge and whisk by hand or electric mixer till the whites won't fall on your hair when you inverse the bowl over your head.

7. Add 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate batter and whisk. Then whisk in the rest of it 1/2 at a time. Mix well with a spatula.

8.  Pour the batter into the cake tin and drop the pan lightly on the counter to get rid of the bubbles.

9. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

10. Remove from the oven and cool it in the cake tin until you can touch it. Then transfer it on a wire rack to cool completely.

* This recipe was taken from ochikeron on YouTube. Watch her video here. This is quite a small cake so I suppose you could double the recipe if you have a bigger cake tin. This recipe truly works! The cake is super duper moist.

Corn chowder

Serves 6

3 ears fresh corn on the cob (mine were about 6 inches long but if yours are longer, then use 2)
2 chicken breasts (with bone attached)
6 cups water
2 medium sized red onions
4 - 5 cloves garlic
3 stalks celery
3 - 4 potatoes
10 slices bacon
2 knobs butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups cold milk
Salt and pepper

To garnish:
Spring onions or chives, chopped
Tabasco

1. Peel and remove the husks of the corn. With a knife, remove the kernels and set aside. Reserve the cobs.

2. Remove the breasts from the chicken and reserve the bone.

3. Pour 6 cups of water into a pot. Add the three empty cobs and chicken bone and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium/low, cover and continue to simmer for 20-30 minutes until you can smell and taste the sweetness from the corn.

4. While it's boiling, season the chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.

5. Chop up the onions, garlic, celery and bacon.

6. Peel the potatoes and cut into cubes. Soak them in water to prevent them from turning brown.

7. When the stock is done, turn off the heat and add the chicken breasts. Leave to poach for 15 minutes.

8. Remove the poached chicken and cut into cubes, same size as the potatoes. Don't drain the stock.

9. In another pot, throw in the bacon and fry till they're slightly cooked. Remove 3/4 of the bacon and set aside. Continue to fry the rest of the bacon bits till they're crispy. Remove with slotted spoon, and drain on a paper towel. Reserve for garnishing.

10. Add 2 knobs of butter into the pot with the bacon fat, and saute the onions, garlic and celery. When they're soft, add in the corn kernels and toast them till they turn a deep yellow.

11. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and cook out the flour for a minute or two. Splash some cold milk in and stir till it thickens and there are no lumps. Then add in the rest of the milk.

12. Strain the stock into the pot. Stir and then add the potatoes and the non-crispy bacon.

13. Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium/low heat and boil till the potatoes are soft and soup is slightly thick, about 15 - 20 minutes.

14. Add the chicken cubes to be warmed through. Season with salt and pepper.

15. Serve in bowls and garnish with the crispy bacon, chives/spring onions, and few drops of Tabasco.

* Any kind of chowder needs Tabasco. It just gives it that kick and a cuts into the rich, creamy taste. It is not acceptable to not have it. That's what I think!

Siew mai

Makes about 20 - 25

13 medium - large prawns, shelled
About the same amount of minced pork (it should have a little fat. Lean pork is just not nice!)
1 - 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 inch knob of ginger, finely minced
3-4 stalks of spring onions, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Splash of tsao tsing wine
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon fried shallot oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
pinch of salt
Wonton skins

Dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, cut into matchsticks
1 inch knob ginger,  cut into matchsticks
2 stalks spring onions, chopped
2-3 stalks coriander (including the stems), chopped
2-3 chili padi, chopped
Few drops of sesame oil
Few drops of fried shallot oil
1 teaspoon sugar
3-5 tablespoons water

Equipment:
Dim sum steamer
Wok

1. Chop the prawns coarsely, slightly minced but still maintain their texture.

2. Mix all the rest of the ingredients into a mixing bowl. I usually smell the mixture to see what else it needs (e.g more soy, more sesame etc) but if you really want you can boil a little piece and have a taste to see what it's like.

3. Wrap them in the wonton skins.

4. Line a dim sum steamer with greased baking paper (don't use olive oil to grease!! Please don't ever use olive oil in Chinese cooking). Alternatively if you have some on hand, use a whole big leaf or two of softened/boiled napa cabbage/Chinese cabbage to line your steamer. Both prevents sticking.

5. Place the the siew mai in the steamer, making sure to leave a little space in between them. Fill a wok with boiling water and place the steamer on top, steam on high for about 10 minutes or until each siew mai is slightly firm to touch and the wonton skins have turned soft and almost melted into the meat.

6. Mix everything for your dipping sauce and serve hot.

* I like to serve this dipping sauce because the ingredients are almost the same as what's in the siew mai. But it's just as good with bottle chili sauce! 

This dinner was inspired by the SortedFood guys. Watch their video for siew mai here.