Chick Pea Salad with Buttered Five Spice Dressing

It's week 11! All the assignments are coming in and at times it just feels like my brain is going to blow off! Nevertheless, I chose to procrastinate tonight by updating my blog with a couple of dishes that I tried last few days, or maybe last week...

The idea of cooking chickpea the Malaysian way would easily revoke the idea of those chickpea stalls run by Indian hawkers at night markets, found throughout Malaysia. The strong smell of fresh chick pea, Yum! Yum! With this dish however, I decided to let the taste of chick pea to sit secondary to the taste of the five spice sauce and fresh coriander, I think the taste was not bad, but could be better if the sauce was thicker, hence the improvised recipe provided here...

Ingredients
800g chick pea (preferably fresh ones, otherwise canned ones will do), 500g fresh bean sprouts, a generous bunch of fresh coriander, 2-3 tbsp butter, 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 3 tbsp five spice powder, 8 tbsp water, 1 tbsp hot paprika, fresh salt and pepper to taste.

Method
1. Boil a pot of water, add a pinch of salt, add in the chick pea, cook until the water boils again. Remove chick pea from water, mix with 1 tbsp butter while hot, leave to cool.
2. Cook bean sprouts for no more than 3 minutes in the same pot of boiling water, rinse in ice cold water immediately, leave aside.
3. Melt 1tbsp butter in a saucepan, add five spice powder and hot paprika powder, saute over low heat while adding water bit by bit, make sure the sauce is considerably thick, melt the remaining butter in sauce after adding all water.
4. Mix chick pea, bean sprouts and chopped fresh coriander in a salad bowl, add in the buttered five spice sauce, toss well to dress, add salt and pepper to taste. Done.

Tags: salad, chickpea, five spice powder, dressing, bean sprouts, coriander

Poached Green Bean Salad

The green beans I used here refers to those medium length ones with smooth skin, and not its sibling which is fairly long with a rougher skin texture. Anyway, it seems like the season for it has arrived, or has it not? I picked up a large bag of it from Sunday market the other day for a mere 2 dollars, and I think it is an unbeatable price, unless they sell it for only 1 dollar...

It's a fairly simple dish, my housemate (who does not cook as well) and his girlfriend wanted to join the crowd for a good meal, hence I came up with the dish so that there would be enough things to feed everyone, and ofcourse, I cunningly asked my housemate to buy a couple of stuff for joining the dinner last minute. Wicked! *Laughs*

This time again I am not going to disclose the exact amount of ingredients used, there's no strict rule to it really, salads are meant to be hassle-free and done as according to own tastes.

Ingredients:
about 500g green beans (sliced diagonally)
2 carrots (finely chopped)
1 large onion (finely sliced)
black and white sesame (lightly toasted)
dried red chilli (soaked in hot water and coarsely chopped)
lime juice
3 garlic gloves (finely chopped)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
dijon mustard
brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Poach the sliced green beans in boiling hot water for about 3-5 minutes. Soak in ice-cold water immediately.
2. Mix green beans, sliced carrot and black and white sesame in a salad bowl.
3. Heat oil in a saucepan, sautee chilli and garlic until fragrant, stir in onions and add sugar to brown them. Turn off heat, stir in a generous amount of lime juice.
4. Pour sauce over mixed ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste, toss well and throw a generous amount of dijon mustard on top before serving. Done

Last note, feel free to add olive oil to taste for a last touch, that should give another olive-y dimension to the dish. Enjoy!

Tags: Green beans, black sesame, white sesame, dijon mustard, lime juice

Cucumber Salad with Sweet and Sour Thai Chili Dressing

I've just installed Picasa 3 and found that it's collage feature has improved a lot since the last version (Picasa 2), it's simply amazing! With this I can post images which in unconventional ways, particularly refering to blogger.com's limited image features. =p

Anyway, done with the images and on with the dish, I tried another wild mix last night and the results were quite good, I thought that the flavour could be stronger, either by adding more sweetness or more of the sesame oil flavour, I'll definitely give it another try to enhance the flavours, but for now, I think it is quite presentable, at least my housemates like it. =)

Ingredients
1kg of fresh cucumber (thinly sliced using a skin peeler knife, soaked in cold water)
25g of seaweeds (soaked and rinsed thoroughly)
1 carrot (finely chopped)
2 stems celery (finely chopped, salted and leave aside)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 tbsp sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
generous amount of Thai chili sauce

1) Alright, it is nothing close to hard at all, when you are done preparing the cucumber, carrot and celery and toasted the sesame seeds, it is just a matter of mixing up the stuff.

2) On a heated dry wok, lightly toast the seaweed, add sugar and pepper to eliminate the fishy-smell. Add oil, stir in garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Stir in carrots and stir fry for another 3 minutes.

3) Turn to low heat, add celery and mix well, add salt and pepper to taste, followed by sesame oil and lemon juice. Done.

4) Set cucumber strips on plate, top with mixed ingredients, splash Thai sweet chili sauce generously on top, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, mix well before serving warm or cold.

Tags: Cucumber, Thai Chili, Salad

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

We had a stockpile of sweet potato earlier this week and I thought it was too common to just roast the sweet potato and eat it as it is (though it is delicious). Hence I figured this salad to put the dish into our dinner's menu.

Ingredients
Heaps of sweet potato (cleaned and coarsely chopped into medium-large chunks)
2 stems of fresh celery (finely chopped)
5 tbsp of golden syrup
4 tbsp mayonnaise
dash of hot paprika or chili powder
shredded mozzarella cheese (as much as you like!)
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice

Method
1. Roast the sweet potato in a preheated oven for at least 45 minutes at 240 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, prepare the celery and rinse in cold water until use. After the first round of roasting, remove sweet potato from oven, leave to rest for a while, add the golden syrup and mix well using spoons. Roast for another 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are really soft. The golden syrup should give the sweet potatoes a light coat of crust.

2. Upon removal from oven, mix all the ingredients together and the dish is ready to serve. This is important as the cheese needs the heat from the sweet potato to be melted.

Tags: Sweet potato, Salad, Mozzarella Cheese, Roast

Crunchy Lettuce Seaweed Salad

A few days back I was trying to make something new out of one the most common vegetables available, the easiest way is obviously to stir-fry the Chinese way, but I think you'll just get sick of it when you have too much of it, or too much of anything for that matter. Anyway, this was what I came out with, an experiment with some corriander powder I found from the storage cabinet and sort of fusion of East and West, as always. lol

Ingredients:
1 whole iceberg lettuce (rinsed and cleaned thoroughly, roughly chop and leave aside to dry)
25g of finely sliced seaweed (rinse and clean thoroughly leave aside to dry)
3 tbsp white sesame (lightly toasted and set aside)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 tbsp cooking oil
3 tbsp corriander powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, add in chopped garlic and stir fry till fragrant, stir in the sliced seaweed at this point, stir-fry for another 3 minutes.
2. Add all the seasoning, give the ingredients a good mix, add some water to dilute the gravy (around 1/2 to 1 cup of water), bring to boil and turn to lowest heat.
3. Stir in the chopped lettuce and mix the ingredients, adding water bit by bit if it turns out too dry. Turn off heat, stir in the toasted sesame as well, done, serve warm or cold.

A different take on Bruschetta

A few days back Cat brought over some tomatoes that has been sitting in her fridge for some time, I suggested making tomato quiche or bruschetta. She opted for bruschetta as she couldn't get the picture of what is a tomato quiche, or maybe I should correct my terminology, as I told her to make tomato pie, big difference? Hmm...

Anyway, I brought the ingredients into storage the day after I got the tomatoes, and only started to make the bruschetta yesterday. A bad thing I did was to had 4 pieces of bread before I made the Italian snack, which resulted in my almost vomiting just by looking at bread. laughs*Anyway, the Italian snack turned out to be quite good, Cat and the other housemates seem to liked it, though the spicy and tangy garlic was overpowering our taste buds at times, but it was nevertheless very appetite arousing. laughs*


The methodology of this recipe is not hard, bruschettas are not meant to be hard to make. I gave the garlic part a twist, which I think was the part which demanded more work, otherwise, its pretty straight forward provided you are not making for 10 people or so, that would be effort taxing no matter how easy things are. The ingredients used are: 2 loafs of long french bread (the ones they sell in bakery shops, cut diagonally into 2.5cm thick slices), butter, 1 whole garlic (or more! Skinned and crushed), a pinch of basil and thyme, salt and pepper to taste and 2 tbsp of lemon squeeze, not forgetting about 8-10 tomatoes (coarsely chopped), try to use fresh ones, they are less watery, 3 bunches of fresh basil leafs, discard the stems (finely chopped, or to own preference) and lastly olive oil (preferably).


As mentioned, the method is pretty straight forward, it's hard to go wrong with this snack, using an electric blender, mix together garlic, lemon squeeze, 1 tbsp olive oil, basil and thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, bake the sliced breads on a tray for 5 minutes at 240 degrees Celcius, repeat with the bread turned sides. In a mixing bowl, mix together chopped tomatoes and basil leafs, add another 2 tbsp lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Finish with a good drizzle of olive oil and toss well.

On one side of the toasted bread, brush lightly with butter and then another coat of garlic mix, repeat with other pieces of bread. Toast again lightly in over for 2 minutes, remove from heat, top with tomato mix, done, drizzle with more olive oil if desired, enjoy!

Carrot & Raddish Snack

This salad snack is so easy I did not want to post it at first, but on second thought, I decided I should. Why? It is a memorable day whereby James cooked! He made spaghetti for us, that's quite memorable huh? Well, I should have posted on the spaghetti shouldn't I? I still prefer to post my own things here to be frank... lol

Anyway, jot down this easy snack, make it whenever you feel like it, it makes a good appetizer, which I think is one of the reasons we had so much of James's spaghetti.

The ingredients used here are simple, I do not want to limit your imagination with the quantity of the ingredients, do experiment with it, try adding more of your favourite ingredients, it makes a difference! Ingredients: Carrot, White Raddish, both finely chopped, poach the white raddish for about 5 minutes before serving if you are not used to eating raw white raddish. Sauce: Sesame Oil, Light Soy Sauce, Balsamic Vinegar, Hot Paprika Powder, Korean Rice Seasoning, Salt and Pepper to taste.

The process is just simple, prepare the carrot and raddish as above. Heat a saucepan until it is really hot, turn of the heat. Add sesame oil straight away, followed by light soy sauce and a generous amount of balsamic vinegar, mix well and pour on to the carrot and raddish. Sprinkle with hot paprika powder, rice seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Done! Toss and mix well before serving hot.

*Note: substitute rice seasoning with toasted white sesame if desired.

Sweet Cucumber and Aubergine Salad

This is another simple salad that I figured out within minutes when my mom asked me how to cook this two leftover ingredients in the refrigerator. I think it is not too bad considering I had to come out with it within minutes, Hah!

Ingredients: 1kg baby cucumbers, 600g small aubergines, 3 tbsp malt, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp toasted black sesame, 1 tbsp toated chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Method: First of all, coarsely chop the baby cucumbers and aubergines. Coat the aubergines with sesame oil and roast in an oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Melt the malt in a steamer. Remove the aubergine from oven and well with the chopped babay cucumbers. Toss well with malt, black sesame and chili flakes. Seson with pepper and salt to taste, try some lime juice as well if desired. Serve hot or warm when the sesame oil-roasted-aubergine are still fragrant after being roasted in the oven.

New Year, New Begining!

Garden greens with Egg Yolk Sauce Salad

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have supported my blog for the past year, I sincerely hope that everyone will continue to enjoy reading my blog and benefit from it as much as I do. Nevertheless, I am going to start posting straight from this post itself, no wasting posts!

This is a salad that I made for one of my cousin's birthday celebration party, the proportion of the dish is meant for a large number of people (around 10 people), hence for those who want to try out this salad, feel free to adjust the amount and proportion of ingredients accordingly to your own needs...

On second thought, maybe I'll just disclose the ingredients used, for those who want to try it out, feel free to use as much ingredients you want! fresh oven-baked/ deep fried wedges, baby cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh basil leafs, vinaigrette, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, half boil eggs, lime juice.

Method: First of all, coarsely chop the baby cucumbers, tomatoes and basil leafs. Season with pepper and salt to taste. Poach as much as eggs as possible, the more eggs the more fragrant the salad is. The catch is that the eggs must be half boiled so that the yolk is still liquid form, which in turn becomes part of the main flavour of the salad's sauce. Remember to use the half-boiled eggs straight from hot water before they harden and turn cooked. Bring together all the main ingredients mentioned above. Give a good splash of venaigrette, olive oil and lime juice, finally top with the half boiled eggs, mix well and serve immediately, as the eggs will harden soon when in contact with the just-cooked wedges.

Sweet Chili Pumpkin and Spinach Salad

Ingredients: (serves 3)
450g Pumpkin (Skinned and roughly chopped)
1 bundle English Spinach (about 6 bunch, rinsed and finely chopped)
15g Anchovy (fried pre-use)
3 tbsp Sweet Chili
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slice Ginger (finely chopped)
2 cup water

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry ginger and garlic until aromatic. Add in pumpkin cutlets, stir fry for 2 minutes, add 1 cup water to cover pumpkin pieces, close lid and leave to braise for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove lid, add salt, pepper and 2tbsp sweet chili sauce, mix well, Stir in chopped spinach, stir well, add light soy sauce and another cup of water, cover with lid again and braise over low heat for 5 minutes.
3. Remove lid, turn to high heat, bring to boil. Done. Top with fried anchovies and remaining sweet chili sauce, mix well before eating.

Chinese Style Vegetarian Chicken Salad

Ingredients: (serves 3)
325g Vegetarian Chicken (Thinly sliced, available at Asian stores)
250g Fresh Bean Sprouts
500g Chives (soaked and chopped into 1cm lengths)

1 tbsp Black and White Sesame (toasted, for garnishing)

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

Sauce:

2 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter

3 Small Spicy Chili (seeded and finely chopped)

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tsp Black Pepper Powder

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

3 tbsp Water

Method:
1. Braise beansprouts in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, remove from hot water and soak in ice cold water. Repeat with chopped chives.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok, stir fry sliced vegetarian chicken for 5 minutes, adding sea salt and black pepper powder in the process. Remove from wok and leave aside to cool.
3. On a plate, set base of bean sprouts, top with chives and the top most with the vegetarian chicken.
4. As for the sauce, heat oil in a saucepan, saute chopped chili for 1 minute, stir in the rest of the ingredients, with the water added at the last, turn to low heat and bring to boil. Done. Pour over the vegetarian chicken, chives and beansprouts platter prepared earlier. Serve hot or cold.

Sesame Oil Grilled Aubergine

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
500g Aubergine (pick those small and long ones)
4 tbsp Sesame Oil
25g Bean curd Skin (Fu Chok, rinsed pre-use)
1 bunch Coriander (finely chopped)
5 cloves Garlic (diced)
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sweet Chili
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:
1. Wash the aubergines thoroughly, half them lengthwise. On a plate, mix 3 tbsp sesame oil with 1 tbsp sugar and salt. Coat halved aubergines thoroughly with sesame oil. Put to grill for about 30-40 minutes.
2. Slice the bean curd skin finely. Heat the vegetable oil in saucepan, lightly fry the diced garlic until golden brown, remove garlic. Throw in sliced bean curd skin, stir-fry for 2 minutes before adding dark and light soy sauce, sweet chili, sugar and black pepper powder. Continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Add some water if necessary.
3. Add the remaining sesame oil into the saucepan before turning off heat, mix well.
4. Remove aubergine from grill, top with bean curd skin sauce, chopped coriander and fried garlic earlier. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Chinese Sausage Salad

This is another very simple dish for those who do not like to spend much time on cooking. I particularly recommend this dish to those Chinese Sausage fans, the correct taste should have a mild scent of chinese sausage's sweetness in every bite, hope everyone likes it. Enjoy!





Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
2 pc Chinese Sausage (sliced thinly diagonally accross)
1 pc Cucumber (skinned, diced and keep in iced water)
2 pc Fresh Tofu (diced)
1 tsp White Sesame
1 tsp Black Sesame
1 tbsp Lemon/ Lime Juice

Method:
1. In a sasucepan or a small pot, lightly toast the black and white sesame until fragrant. Put aside.
2. Similarly, toast the sliced sausages without adding any oil or ingredients. The sausages will turn brown and release its oil. Retain this oil at the end of toasting process.
3. Lightly fry the diced tofu with the oil from the Chinese Sausage earlier until they turn brownish.
4. Mix all ingredients together, pour the last bit of oil from the Chinese Sausage onto the mixture. Give the dish a splash of lemon juice and sweet chili, sprinkle with toasted sesame. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Bamboo Shoots Wrap

Wanted to make something that literally 'wraps' that day, not sure why though, but I did make it at the end. The end product was not bad at all, but maybe just have to control the duration of steaming it, then it would be better! Check the recipe out...


Ingredients: (makes 9)
25g Bean curd Skin (Foo-Chok, approximate weigh, cut to make 9 pieces)
300g Bamboo Shoots Strips
2pc Chinese Sausage (skinned and finely chopped)
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Sweet Paprika Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
2 bunch Chives

Method:
1. Soak the bean curd skin in lukewarm water 1 hour beforehand. Leave aside.
2. Marinade the bamboo shoot strips with light soy sauce, black pepper powder, brown sugar, sweet paprika and Cinnamon powder. Leave aside.
3. Clean the chives thoroughly with water, steam in hot water pot for 5 minutes or so.



4. Pick a piece of bean curd skin, place 2 tbsp bamboo shoot strips on one end. Top with 1/2 tbsp finely chopped Chinese sausage. Pick one end of the bean curd skin (where the ingredients are near to), roll firmly while pressing out excess water and air, seal with corn starch at the other end of the roll.

5. Pick 2 strips of chives, cross tie around the wrap, turn the wrap around and tie another knot if desired. Repeat step 4 and 5 with remaining ingredients.
6. Place all wraps in a oiled bowl or plate, steam for 10 minutes. Done, serve hot.
7. Serve with sweet chili sauce or simply dip into some light soy sauce.

Apple and Bacon Roll with Cinnamon Honey Sauce

FEELING STRESSED! The assignments and the submission to meet next week is simply driving my nerves to breaking point! Everyone in the household is under immense pressure and we hardly talk as everyone is thinking of their work and their progress. How to overcome that?

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!

Now here's something really worth thinking about, I reckon cooking is really theraputhic, anyone with me? Making something simple everyday gives you certain sense of achievement! >.< In addition to that, you (well at least myself) get feel relieved and happy deep inside when you see something nice created with your own hands. (This reminds me of Su Yin's cakes) But anyway, check out the recipe...



Ingredient: (serves 1)
1 strip Middle Bacon
1/2 a Large Apple (use Royal Gala if red or Granny Smith if Green) (diced, or cut into chunks)
2 stick Celery (coarsely chopped)
2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Butter
1/3 cup water
Few Basil Leafs (coarsely chopped, add some to pot of boiling water)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Place bacon strip in a pot of boiling water, leave to braise for 3 minutes or less. Remove from water. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
2. In a bowl, mix all apple chunks with 1tsp cinamon powder and the rest of basil leafs. Lay bacon on dry surface, place some apple chunks on top of bacon and roll over carefully, hold with toothpick if neccessary. Roast in preheated oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the remaining apples and sautee for a minute or two, add water, bring to boil, turn to low heat and slowly stir in honey.
4. On a plate, place chopped celery, top with roasted bacon, pour over with honey apple sauce. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Roasted Sausage and Potato Salad

I saw this recipe over the newspaper the other day and was tempted to try it, yet I didn't want to spend on the specific ingredients which that dish required, hence I modified it and came out with this. Suits a student budget more I reckon. >.<

Ingredients: (serves 1-2)
2pc Thick Sausages (roughly cut into big chunks)
1 Capsicum (chopped length-wise)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 Stem Celery (rinsed, skinned and coarsely chopped)
3 small Potatoes (skinned and roughly chopped)
2 tbsp Caramel (melted)
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp dried Basil Leaves
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 clove Garlic (finely chopped)
Salt and Pepper to taste
















Method:
1. Boil a pot of water, add in a pinch of salt and pepper, stir in potatoes and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Remove potatoes from water, mix well with sausages and capsicum in a roasting bowl or pan, add vegetable oil, basil leaves, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Remove mixture from oven, give the ingredients a good turn, add in melted caramel, dark soy sauce and garlic. Mix well and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Mix tomato and celery. Add pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Remove roasting ingredients from oven, stir together with tomato and celery. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Char Siew Salad? Not quite...

A few days ago I had this sudden urge to make make something out of the Char Siew Sauce that I bought some time ago and left it there since the first use. After scratching my head for one whole morning, I was still undecided on what to make, should I make Char Siew itself? I love them! But obviously there was no tenderloin meat in the storage, I only had this cutlets of pork armpits, if I remembered correctly, that is. Anyway, to cook the meat only was too plain and dull, I like vegetables and wanted them to go with the meat. Finally, I decided, what could be easier than making a salad? LAZY =)

The ingredients are fairly simple:
2 stems of Celery (thinly chopped)
1 Tomato (diced)
1/2 Carrot (finely sliced)
1 piece of Pork Armpit (about 100g) (cut lengthwise into strips)
1 tbsp Char Siew Sauce
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Lemon Juice
pinch of Salt and Pepper


Method:
1. Marinade the pork with char siew sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt and pepper; this should be given about 20-30 minutes at least.

2. Mix the celery, carrot and tomato in bowl, add lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Leave aside.

3. Heat oil in a flat (preferably not-stick) pan or wok. Add in the pork cutlets one by one and saute over low heat. You can tell they are thoroughly cooked when they turn dark brown.

4. Remove the meat from the pan, top or mix with the salad.

5. Add 1/2 cup of water to the remaining sauces in the pan, bring to boil. Dilute some corn starch with cold water and add to the sauce, give it a good stir. Remove from heat and pour over salad mix. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Celery and FIsh Flakes with Sambal Sauce

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

3 sticks Fresh Celery (rinsed and cut randomly)

350g Bassa Fillet

10g dried Achovies

1 small Spanish Red Onion (chopped randomly)

1 tbsp Pepper

1 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Vegetable oil

2 tbsp Sambal and Shrimp Sauce

3 tbsp coconut milk

2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

2 thin slice Ginger (finely chopped)

Method:

1. Marinate the fish fillets with salt and pepper for at least an hour. Poach in boiling water, remove from hot water, flake the fillets and leave aside.

2. In a heated wok, lightly toast the achovies, stir in ginger and garlic to reduce the 'fishy' smell. Add vegetable oil and stir fry for 1 minute or 2.

3. Add onion into the wok and stir fry until they turn brownish. Stir in sambal paste and add 1/4 cup of water. Bring to boil over low heat. Add coconut milk and bring to boil again.

4. Arrange celery on a plate, top with fish flakes, pour the sambal sauce on top. Done, mix well and serve hot or warm.

Mushrooms and Celery Salad

I made this salad the night before I went to Snowy Mountains, despite running low on supplies, I forked out this dish with available ingredients in the fridge. Thank God. HaHa...



Ingredients: (serves 1)
4 sticks Celery (seperate the leafs and the stem, chop coarsely)
100g White Button Mushroom (thinly sliced)
25g Black Woody Fungus (finely chopped)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Light Sauce
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chinese Shao Xing Wine

Method:
1. In a bowl, mix the celery with 1 tsp salt, leave aside.
2. In a heated pan or wok, stir-fry the sliced mushrooms and fungus without oil, add brown sugar to caramalize, now add oil and chopped garlic, stir-fry for a couple minutes before adding the rest of seasoning. Done.
3. Mix well with the celery. Serve hot or cold.

Celery & Tuna Salad with Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 Bunch Celery
250g Tuna Flakes
100g Raw Peanuts (toasted, skin removed and crushed)
3 cloves Garlic
3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 tbsp English Mustard
2 tbsp Black Pepper
2 tbsp Sea Salt
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1/2 cup water

Method:
1. Rinse the celery, coarsely chop the celery, add 1 tsp salt and mix well.
2. In a small wok, heat the tuna flakes, add light soy sauce, 1 tbsp sea salt and 1 tbsp black pepper, saute for a couple of minutes and place on top of celery.
3. In a sauce pan, heat vegetable oil, add crushed garlic, followed by toasted crush peanuts, peanut butter and english mustard. Saute for 2 minutes before adding water and the rest of the seasoning. Done. Pour over tuna and celery. Preferably serve hot.