I was at two minds whether to post the picture above. The picture does no justice to the delicious full bodied taste of this Black Bean Soup. Black Bean Soup is highly nutritious as black beans (also called “Black Turtle Beans”) are known to be packed with all sorts of vitamins and minerals. The soup tastes naturally sweet (not like sugar) and is very appetising when combined with a meal of steamed rice and other dishes.

This recipe is pretty much a “cook and leave it” recipe especially if you use a charcoal stove to double boil the soup. I am always partial to double boiling soup on a charcoal stove as the taste is immensely different, not to mention the effect it has on tenderising the meat which is being cooked. If you don’t have a charcoal stove, fret not as a gas or electric stove is fine and direct cooking is possible. For this recipe, direct cooking rather than double boiling is shown as I know not everyone has a double boiler at home.

This is the recipe for Black Bean Soup Read the rest of this entry »

In Hong Kong, the movie industry has its 4 Heavenly Kings to describe the 4 most popular singers. For me, I have my 4 Heavenly Kings to describe my 4 must-eat hawker dishes in Kuching. Kueh Chap is one of the 4. The others being the Sarawak Laksa, Kolok Mee and Tomato Kuey Teow.

Kueh Chap, I believe, is hokkien for the word “Cake” and “Mixed”. The “cake” or kueh denotes the use of thicker than usual kuey teow (rice flour cake - which is like lasagna) whilst “mixed” or chap probably describes the use of a mixture of pork parts in the dish. In Penang, Singapore and Johor Bahru, I believe they use duck parts as well. In Kuching, it is almost exclusively pork. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been away from this blog for more than 10 days! Oh my! Recently I have been swamped by work and many other commitments that I have not had the time to update this blog with what I have been eating. Trouble is, I have been eating pasta a lot these days and they don’t really qualify as Asian food. Nevertheless, once in a while, one of our family favourite recipes will pop out and the dish will be laid on the table.

Egg Flower Minced Pork Soup is a simple soup with only 3 ingredients - eggs, minced pork and onions. If you have these three ingredients, you are all set to roll. Cooking time is basically measured by the time taken to bring water to boil and cooking the minced pork. So, it is a soup which can be cooked in a jiffy. The soup may not look at all appetising judging from the photo I took above but the soup can be rather tasty. Read the rest of this entry »

Corn Soup cooked at home differs from family to family. Some use corn from cans. Here, I use fresh corn bought from the wet market. It imparts a natural sweetness to the soup, which I think is much better than those from tin cans. My elder daughter loves this soup very much and also enjoys having her fingers dirty eating the corn

This recipe is pretty simple and does not take much effort. It is best if cooked over a charcoal stove. I am very partial towards food cooked using a charcoal stove as the taste is usually better than those cooked using gas or electrice stove. Moreover, the slow cooking process using charcoal makes the meat tender and brings out all the natural flavours from the ingredients.

This is my recipe for Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 2 fresh corn (washed and cut into smaller pieces)
• 200 grammes of pork ribs or pork suitable for cooking soup
• 1 large carrot (cut to smaller pieces)
• a handful of red dates
• 2 1/2 soup bowls of water (approximately 800 ml)

Seasoning

• Salt to taste

Method

Bring water to boil in pot. Add pork ribs and bring back to boil. Remove scum that appears on surface of water as it reboils.

After 3 minutes of reboiling, add the rest of the ingredients, bring back to boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes before reducing heat to medium low and simmer for at least 1 hour.

Add salt to taste prior to serving.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Soup, Corn, Malaysia