I confess. I love fishballs. When they come fresh and springy, I can take about a dozen in one go. So, what’s this obsession with fishballs then? One thing is - it is cheap. I can get them for 10 cents each from the wet market. It is quite healthy though it may be processed fish meat. And it is easy to cook. You can fry them or use them in soups. When using fishballs in soups, it can either be as an accompaniment or as the highlight of the soup itself.

This recipe highlights the fishballs. I use chinese mustard greens (choy sum) to make this dish one step healthier - what with the fibres and nutrients from the vegetables. For the soup base, I use ikan bilis stock prepared fresh and not the instant granules. Ikan bilis stock is easy to prepare and you can even cool it and store them in the freezer for future use. Handy especially when you want to whip up a quick soup.

This is my simple but delicious recipe for Fish Ball Vegetable Soup Read the rest of this entry »

Eggs are probably the cheapest source of protein around, and quite a complete meal in itself. There are many ways of cooking it and hard-boiled is one of them. Once in awhile, I do find myself having a couple of hard-boiled eggs lying around which can be a wee bit difficult just to consume them in plain form (apart from dipping them into dark soya sauce or making egg sandwiches filling). So, one good way of cooking them would be to make an appetizing dish like this Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs.

Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs is one of those recipes which you can cook in small amounts for one or two meals or big amounts enough to feed a party. There are essentially 3 parts to cooking this dish and you can do them separately at your own convenience. Firstly, you need to make the perfect hard-boiled eggs using eggs which are a couple of days old. Fresh eggs are more difficult to get rid of the shell as the egg membrane tends to stick to the egg white. You will also need to prepare the chilli paste or sambal by pounding them or using a blender. I prefer pounding as I prefer the sambal paste slightly “rough”. And finally, the cooking process which does not take all that long.

This easy Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs recipe is appetizing because it uses tamarind juice to give it a slightly tangy taste to the otherwise flat chilli base. The liberal use of onions gives it a natural sweetness though sugar is also used. If you can find cili boh (chilli paste), that will save a bit of time for you. Otherwise, blend red chilli (seeded) with the rest of the ingredients. Experiment by yourself especially on the amount of chilli, tamarind and sugar to use. If you are looking for an easy or simple sambal hard-boiled eggs recipe or wondering how to cook sambal eggs, try this.

This is my recipe for Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs Read the rest of this entry »

Chinese New Year was celebrated about 1 ½ months ago and there are two recipes for biscuits which I will be featuring here. One of the recipes is Cheese Biscuits – an all-time favourite of my wife. The Cheese Biscuits shown above were baked by my mother-in-law, one of the 10 types of biscuits she baked this year. Oh yes, my mother-in-law is good with baking.

These Cheese Biscuits have the usual cheesy taste – cheddar cheese to be exact. So, there is a little bit of saltiness and sweetness. Kids love them as well. The above Cheese Biscuits were came in a crescent moon shape. You can use any mould you want. Just be a little creative.

This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for Cheese Biscuits Read the rest of this entry »

The name Mee Siam means “Siamese Noodles“. Said to be of Thai origin, it is now probably more popular in southern Johor and Singapore. Cooked with rice vermicelli or bee hoon as what the locals prefer to call it, Mee Siam is great for parties as it is cheap (ingredients costs little) and tasty at the same time.

Mee Siam uses a few main ingredients which brings out its peculiar taste - tau cheo (preserved soya beans), chilli and dried prawns. The more elaborate Mee Siam calls for the pouring of tamarind gravy over the cooked Mee Siam whilst mine is a simpler version which uses freshly squeezed calamansi (limau nipis) juice. The combination of spicy, sweet and sour taste makes this Mee Siam dish appealing to many.

The key to cooking Mee Siam is using a stove which produces high heat and to use the thinner type of rice vermicelli. Why? You use high heat because you don’t want to cook the Mee Siam for too long. Otherwise, the rice vermicelli will break into tiny pieces. At the same time, you use the thinner type of rice vermicelli (I use the Erawan brand which shows an elephant logo) because it does not taste as nice when thicker or coarser rice vermicelli is used.

This is my recipe for Mee Siam (for 2 persons) Read the rest of this entry »