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 »

It’s been more than a week since my last recipe was published here on this site. I have been preoccupied with blogging about politics with the General Election looming and over the last couple of days, we experienced water supply disruption at our place. Hence, we ate out instead or bought some take aways. Incidentally, I went to Ichiban Ramen for lunch this afternoon and the bowl of miso soup which I had reminded me of the one I cooked about 2 weeks ago which I have yet to post here.

Miso Tofu Soup is a popular and common soup served in Japanese restaurants and I believe, probably in Japanese homes as well. Prior to mustering enough courage to cooking this soup at home, I have always thought that it would be a difficult soup to cook. Not any more. If you can cook instant noodles, you are more than able to cook this soup. All you need to do is just to buy miso paste (with bonito extract as part of its ingredients), dehydrated wakame (a type of seaweed) and silken tofu and you can whip up this tasty soup in a jiffy.

This is the recipe for Miso Tofu Soup (yields approximately 3 bowls) Read the rest of this entry »

Tangy Ladies Fingers. A rather exotic sounding name for a dish, isn’t it? Well, I am not good in giving names to recipes which I create or experiment with but this would do. For this dish, I have stayed away from using sambal to cook ladies fingers (okra) but have opted for something which even children can eat. It tastes sweet and tangy due to the use of sugar and calamansi juice. The use of fried shallots give it a nice smoky aroma and fish sauce complements it well.

Most importantly, this dish is easy to cook and is fuss free. I suppose the time taken to slice the okra (ladies fingers) is longer than the actual time to cook this dish. Do use a really hot wok as you will need to cook this dish very quickly to maintain the okra’s crunchiness.

This is my recipe for Tangy Ladies Fingers Read the rest of this entry »

If you are looking for a delicious pork recipe which tastes sweet and hot, Chilli Pork might just be what you are looking for. Using dried chillis for a fiery taste and dark soya sauce, this dish is guaranteed to whet your appetite and make you ask for second helpings of rice. Best of all, it is a simple dish to cook and can be attempted by a beginner.

I use pork belly for this recipe due to the texture of this part of the meat. Containing layers of fat and meat, each bite will give you a nice blend of slightly chewy meat in contrast with the smooth fat. No, it is not that healthy to be consuming this dish but once a fortnight or month should be fine. LOL! Again, just like the other recipes on this site, you don’t have to follow all the measurements of ingredients to the dot. If you like it more spicy, add more dried chillis or vice versa. Most of all, cook this and be blown away by its tastiness! Highly recommended!

This is my recipe for Chilli Pork Read the rest of this entry »