Simple Bean Sprout Stir Fry

This is just another simple recipe of stir-frying vegetables. Hubby loves bean sprout so much, and we bought loose beansprout from Marina two days ago. Actually, I should cook the beansprout right away, as two days in the fridge might cause some damage to the fresh and easily rotten beansprout. But thank God, it was just fine. I still have half chayote and lots of tomatoes on the vine. So I use it in this dish. It adds a nice tangy kick to the humble yet nutritious beansprout.

Here are the main ingredients. Simple and healthy.


Chop 'em all but the beansprout.


Heat the pan with oil (olive + sesame), stir fry the minced garlic 'till fragrant, then blend in the chayote, tomato, oyster sauce, fish sauce, honey, salt, pepper and water. Mix 'em evenly.


Once the chayote is softened and the tomato wilted, throw in the beansprout and green onion. Stir for a minute or less over high heat. This way the beansprout will stay nice and crisp.


Transfer to a serving dish nicer than my plain humble bowl ;p Enjoy with a meaty main dish. Or if you're on a diet, just this and plain white rice will do. But I will never do that ;p



Simple Bean Sprout Stir Fry
Ingredients:
2 handful of beansprout
1/2 chayote, sliced thinly
1/2 medium sized tomato, sliced thinly
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of green onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp honey
a pinch of salt and pepper
50 ml water

Methods:
Stir fry the minced garlic with olive oil and sesame oil. Add in fish sauce, oyster sauce, honey, chayote and tomato. Throw in a pinch of salt and pepper. Keep cooking until the vegetables wilt a bit. Add in the water, and keep stirring.

Throw in the beansprout and blend the mixture for a minute. Add in the chopped green onion, stir. Turn off the heat and serve hot.

Bak Kut Teh

A few years ago, when we still stayed in Singapore, we often drove to Johor Bahru to shop, buy gas, and eat good food. Other than Malaysian food, we also loved Chinese style paper wrap chicken from Bamboo Restaurant, Ampang Yong Tau Foo and also Bak Kut Teh. Too bad, I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

It's actually easy to make your own Bak Kut Teh at home. You can buy ready-made Bak Kut Teh spices in Chinese groceries anywhere. Our family friend, the Kwoks, often go to HK and bring back packaged herbs and spices, and give some to us. Among the many packages, we still have one left and finally use it for a hearty soup. It's cold and rainy outside. There's nothing better than a hot delicious bowl of home-made Bak Kut Teh.

Here's the mix that I use. Just add garlic, it's that simple.


This is the herbs and spices inside with a tea bag (hence the name: Bak Kut Teh)


Three hours later...The soup darkens kudos to the tea in the bag. The aroma is so invigorating.


Warm and refreshing!

Good for you soul.

Make one bowl today ^^




Easy Bak Kut Teh
Ingredients:
1 package of good quality Bak Kut Teh Mix
1 lb of pork ribs
2 liters of water
5 whole garlic
1 tsp of salt
2 tbs soy sauce

Method:
Boil 2 liters of water. Add in the mix, garlic, and the pork ribs. Boil for about 2 hours, and you can add more water if needed. Add the salt and soy sauce. Serve warm with rice.

Not the Prettiest Rolls

I've always wanted to make my own Vietnamese roll, but was not so sure how and where to buy the ingredients. Turns out that you can find the rice paper and all easily in any Asian grocery in town. Silicon Valley is really blessed with goods from around the world. Through this dish, I fall in love with cilantro; I can eat cilantro with everything, even thinking of putting it in my juice. I rarely find Cilantro in my hometown, Semarang; as it is not a popular vegetable there. Chinese parsley is the more popular variety (and I don't like it).

I really enjoy the texture of the rice roll and the overall taste of this healthy dish. I don't feel guilty at all even if I eat ten of them. Mine might not be the prettiest, but to me, they taste wonderful :)

These three are the basic ingredients other than the rice paper and hoisin sauce.


Once all the preparation is done, "relaxed" a piece of rice paper by dipping it quickly in a bowl of warm water. Spread it on a big plate. Arrange the shrimps in a row. I happen to have grilled pork, so I sneaked some in also.


You can either top the shrimp with the other ingredients then roll and dip, or like me, I'd like to spread the sauce over the rice paper first and arrange the fillings on top. Just like popiah.


Once all the fillings are in, fold the top and bottom edge, covering the fillings. Then take the right edge over the filling and roll.


The result should be better than this :( The rice paper is sticky so it's hard to be neat. Further more I'm better at eating than making a neat roll. This is good enough for us (so many excuses)


Anyway, the next day, I make a stir fry from the left over bean thread like this. And make more rolls. I love rice paper rolls. You can literally fill 'em with anything edible. And it would still be tasty.


The process is the same. Spread the sauce and arrange the filling.


Add veggie please...The color will boost the transparent roll.


Fold and roll. Tada! The result is still not pretty, but edible. And they were gone in seconds courtesy of my husband. He can eat anything, he's such a sweet guy.


But he told me once, "After cooking for myself for ten years, I can eat anything..."

What's that suppose to mean?? ;p



Shrimp & Vegetable Rolls (yields about ten rolls)
Ingredients:
1/2 lb boiled fresh shrimp (boil 'em with head on, and keep the stock for soup)
100 gr of boiled bean thread
10 Rice Paper
2 stalks of green onion chopped finely
a handful of fresh cilantro chopped finely
5 leaves of lettuce torn lengthwise
5 tbs of hoisin sauce mix with 1/2 tsp of chili paste

Methods:
Soften the rice paper by dipping it quickly in a bowl of warm water, put in a big plate.

For each rice paper, spread a teaspoon of the hoisin sauce-chili paste mixture over the middle part.

Arrange the halved shrimp in one row. Add a little bean thread on top of it, lettuce, cilantro and green onion. Fold and roll the rice paper carefully. You need to practice to make a perfect roll and so do I :)

Black Bean Pork & Tofu

My husband loves fermented black bean. Not just that, I think he likes all fermented, pickled stuff. Fermented black bean or tausi is a very popular ingredient in his household. I remember my late father-in-law used to order Kakap Tausi (Black Bean Snapper) every time we ate out. Those were wonderful days...

Anyway, yesterday we went to buy this small bottled black bean garlic sauce out of curiosity. I don't remember my mom ever cooked with this yummy sauce, that's why I should try it. So today I whipped up an easy peasy meal that was gone in five minutes. Black Bean Pork and Tofu.


There are few main ingredients including ground pork, black pepper, paprika powder (not here), chayote, tomato, green onion, garlic, evoo (extra virgin olive oil), and off course the firm tofu.


The first thing to do would be to brown the pork in a hot pan glazed with a tablespoon of evoo. It should be nice and done in five minutes on high heat.


Make a little opening on one side of the pan, drizzle two teaspoon of oil from the black bean sauce jar. Then stir fry the garlic until fragrant. Mix evenly with the browned pork.


The smell was very stimulating to one's nostril.

Hubby could not stop sneezing. Was it from the pollen? Flu? Or simply from the devilish aroma of black bean garlic oil? Make a guess.

The next step would be to add in the tomato and chayote. The color combination was just superb. Maybe I should add red bell pepper too...and also the yellow, orange, and green one. Next time...


Once the chayote turned tender but still crisp, and the tomato wilted, we can throw in the diced tofu anc chopped onion. Stir a bit, and add in the yummy black bean garlic sauce. Four teaspoon in all. Don't skimp on it, let the strong flavor tickle your tongue. Oh, smells so yum!


Stir, stir, stir...mix all the goodness for a minute or two over high heat. I bet my neighbors think that a new Chinese restaurant has just opened nearby--the smell is pretty strong at this point. I felt guilty for not sharing it with them.


Serve over warm rice. It's a comfort food.

So comforting, it's gone in five minutes.

Who knows that simple ingredients can be that good, if you like fermented black bean.


Black Bean Pork and Tofu

Ingredients:
1/2 lb lean ground pork
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 package of firm tofu, diced
1/2 chayote, cut into thin strips
1/2 medium sized tomato, diced
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 tbs evoo
4 tsp of black bean garlic sauce
1/2 tsp of paprika powder
1/4 tsp of coarsely ground black pepper
salt to taste

Methods:
Heat a frying pan, glazed with evoo, brown the pork for a good five minutes over high heat. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, and paprika powder.

Make an opening in the pan, pour in two teaspoon of oil from the black bean sauce jar. Stir fry the garlic in there. Then mix the pork and garlic.

Add in the tomato and chayote, cook until tender but crisp. Then the tofu and green onion can be added in the pan. Mix everything evenly.

The last step would be to add four teaspoon of the black bean sauce, and mix the whole thing together. Keep cooking for another two minutes. Turn off the heat, and serve over white rice.