Stingrays are sometimes sold at the wet market and we buy it once in a blue moon. The most common method to cook stingrays are to grill them after marinating them in some spicy sauce. In fact, most hawkers selling grilled seafood will have stingrays amongst other seafood available.

We don’t grill our food at home because…we don’t have a grill in the first place. But what we do like is to cook the stingray with taucheo chilli and salted vegetable. The taucheo chilli gives the stingray a slight spicy taste whilst the salted vegetable lends an interesting salty twist to the dish. Taucheo is preserved soya beans which are bought from grocers in bottles. The salted vegetables mentioned are also known as kiam chye (in hokkien) or preserved mustard leaves.

Stingrays can have a rather “fishy” smell and that’s one of the reasons why it is cooked with chilli. By past experience, we find that the ones where the white-coloured flesh is riddled with black dots are tastier and have less “fishy” smell. If anyone can share the name of this specie or why it is riddled with black dots, that would be most appreciated.

This is my recipe for Stingray with Taucheo Chilli and Salted Vegetables.

Ingredients

• 400 grammes of stingray (wash thoroughly and cut to bite sizes)
• 3 to 4 red chillis (remove seeds and pound finely. Use more chilli if you like it spicier)
• 3 bulbs garlic (chopped finely)
• 4 slices of ginger
• 2 teaspoons taucheo (preserved soya beans)
• 3 to 4 leaves of salted vegetables julienned (kiam chye / preserved mustard leaves)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1/2 cup water

Seasoning

• Dash of white pepper
• Sugar to taste

Method

Heat oil in wok. Add chilli, garlic and ginger and stir till fragrant or slightly brown. Add taucheo and salted vegetables (preserved mustard leaves). Stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add stingray and stir till the meat is turns colour / cooked on the outside. Add water and close lid. Cook for 2 minutes on high heat (till stingray is thoroughly cooked).

Add a dash of white pepper and sugar to taste prior to serving.

Lamb Shoulder BBQ Sauce

Once in a while, I have no “inspiration” to cook and struggle to cook something. So, having some lamb shoulder chops in the freezer comes in handy. Though this is not strictly an Asian recipe, it is still cooked by an Asian

Actually, I sort of learnt this dish from my mother-in-law and I have sort of modified it a bit by adding a bit of this and a bit of that. One of the best part of this dish is actually the fat! Yeah, by the time the lamb shoulder is cooked, the fat just melts into the mouth. If you are on the health concious side, just trim away the fat prior to cooking but I suspect, it would not taste as nice.

This is my recipe for Lamb Shoulder BBQ Sauce.

Ingredients

• 6 pieces of lamb shoulder
• 1 whole garlic (choppped)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Italian Herbs
• 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce (buy from supermarkets)
• 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 - 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• A dash of black pepper powder
• 100 ml warm water
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry lamb shoulder for 1 - 2 minutes each side turning once only.

Remove lamb shoulder and set aside. With remaining oil, fry garlic for about 15 seconds and add water, BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper powder to taste.

Once the sauce boils, return the lamb shoulder to the wok and cook for 1 minute by coating the sauce thoroughly over the lamb shoulder.

Serve hot with rice or potatoes.

Lotus Root Soup with Red Dates & Peanuts

It’s amazing what people can find to make delicious food. Who would have thought that the root or rhizomes of the lotus plant which is submerged in muddy-like waters in ponds or lakes can be very delicious indeed? Some have used it in stir-fries with sweet peas and baby corns. Some cook soup with it.

One popular chinese-style soup is the Lotus Root Soup with Red Dates and Peanuts. You can even add dried cuttlefish for added flavour. After hours of simmering, it tastes robust and is apparently good for your body. It tastes even better if it is cooked using charcoal fire.

This is my recipe for Lotus Root Soup with Red Dates and Peanuts.

Ingredients

• 300 grammes of lotus root (wash thoroughly, gently scrape the skin and slice not more than 5 mm thick. Discard the points between the sections)
• 300 grammes of pork ribs (ask butcher for ribs suitable for stewing soup)
• 10 - 15 Red Dates
• 100 grammes peanuts (uncooked)
• 4 pieces dried cuttlefish (optional. Cut into halves)
• 2 1/2 soup bowls of water

Seasoning

• Salt to taste

Method

Boil water in pot. Upon boiling, add pork ribs. Remove layer of scum on surface of boiling water.

After about 2 minutes of rapid boiling and having removed scum, add the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil again for 2 minutes.

Cover lid, reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours. Add salt to taste before serving.

Mixed Vegetables

I have not been posting since the 2nd October. Not that I have not eaten but I have not been cooking and I have not eaten anything which I deem interesting enough to share it here. Recently though, my mum cooked Mixed Vegetables consisting of cabbage, carrots, wood-ear fungus, mushrooms and dried lily buds (kim cham).

Dried lily buds are unopened flower buds of lilies and also known as “golden needles”. The buds need to be soaked in water for at least 30 minutes followed by tying itself in a knot at the middle. The wood-ear fungus also need to be soaked in water till soft prior to cooking as they come in dried form.

This is the recipe for Mixed Vegetables using Cabbage, Carrots, Wood-Ear Fungus, Chinese Mushrooms and Dried Lily Buds.

Ingredients

• 300 grammes of cabbage (cut across into 1 inch width)
• 200 grammes of carrot (sliced)
• 50 to 100 grammes of wood-ear fungus (soaked in water till soft)
• 5 dried chinese mushrooms (pre-soaked in 1 large bowl of water, cut into halves and with stem removed. Keep the water for cooking)
• 50 grammes of dried lily buds (pre-soaked till soft and knotted in the middle)
• 4 bulbs of garlic (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 1 tablespoon of corn flour (mix with 3 tablespoons of water to make starch)

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• Salt and white pepper powder to taste
• 1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok at high heat. Add garlic, chinese mushrooms and wood-ear fungus. Stir fry for 1 minute ensuring the garlic does not burn.

Add carrots, dried lily buds and cabbage and continue stir frying for another 2 minutes. Add a little water (from the water used to soak mushrooms) at a time to ensure that the vegetables do not dry out.

Add light soya sauce, oyster sauce, salt and white pepper followed by 1 cup of water and let it boil with lid closed. Cook for about 3 minutes or until cabbage is slightly limp.

Finally, add chinese cooking wine and adjust seasoning to taste. This is followed by the corn starch to thicken sauce to your desired thickness.