When I was young, one of my favourite breakfast is this fried glutinous rice. I decided to make some for today and tried to find my recipe last night but I could not find it this blog. Sadly it must heave been lost with my old blog.

So today I decided to blog this and at the same time teach my daughter as she is on holiday and she likes this a lot too. Halfway on my camera’s battery died so I took a break and have a cuppa then continues.

In them days, the good old days, the market vendors used only glutinous rice, dried shrimps and eggs – the basic. Then later on some added Chinese sausages – lap cheong. I know some people nowadays will add dried scallops, mushrooms and others but I still prefers it simple. Nostalgia is inexplicable. Maybe I should say ‘nostalgia is the problem?’

Anyway so last night I soaked some glutinous rice and today I served this. I added some char sui because I made some the other day and I have a few strips left so I decided to let the family finish them. This is not a hardcore recipe dish, meaning you can give and take on the ingredients.

I will just post the basics. If you have any problem making just poke me and I will try to explain. Below I explained with my pics. Enjoy.

My family loves yellow bean sauce and recently I am able to get the brand that my mother has been using since I was a child. I only remember her using this brand and Yeo’s brand and not any other. She also always used the whole beans and she insisted that it is not actually hard work to roughly chopped the beans and they taste much better.

Now that I am all grown up I have decided there is logic in what she said and so I followed suit since. Today I cooked cod cheeks with yellow beans sauce as both the hubby and daughter are a big fans of fish without bones.

As usual I always said my recipe is a guide so make the dish your own with my TIPs. Enjoy.

TIP – When cooking fish and seafood always incorporate ginger, in slices if you don’t like to eat ginger, so you can easily remove them; julienned and fried crispy if you like to eat them like we do.

TIP – Bring the cleaned cod cheeks out from fridge to room temperature before cooking. Do not overcooked.

TIP – Please add a pinch of sugar to balance the taste.

TIP – Add the red chillies at the last minute, the spring onions and served topped with the earlier fried ginger, shallots, garlic slices and coriander.

TIP – After you added in your cod cheeks, at high heat your cook should be just about 5 minutes to dishing up.

Sometimes, actually most times I like to do a one dish. Often, we skipped breakfast, have early lunch and late dinner. Lucky for me hubby is one who do not mind eating the same dish for both meals and if it is Malaysian curry he can eat it for few days – kekekekeke

Today I decided to do a trio of braised soyabean products dish. It is said that soya products are very good for menopausal symptoms, and I am lucky that hubby is a huge fan of anything made from soyabeans. Heck there are soyabean products that he will eat, and I won’t! Funny man will eat like fermented beancurd especially the spicy ones with plain rice!

Soyabean has some of the most important nutrient required in the human body. Besides offering high-quality protein it is super rich in saturated fats, antioxidants, Omega-3 fatty acids, fibre, and phytoestrogens.

It has a long list of benefits, but I am only interested in the diabetes aspects, the potential of sleep regulating and the improving of blood circulation for the menopausal women.

We do eat a lot of soya produce, at least once or twice a week in one form or another. I do make my own soya milk often and it is pretty easy to just add a few egg yolks and steam for a smooth soft eggy dish.

When I make my own soya milk, I would also boil it in the morning and crack a couple of eggs in for breakfast.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this simple made-up dish. Please adjust and add anything you wish. I would have added other types of mushrooms if I had.

Note: To velvet your chicken just marinate with light soy sauce, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Before hitting the oil add in a sesame oil and loosen. Your chicken slices will be velvety smooth and won’t clump together.

Mee Hoon Kueh Soup 面粉粿汤 for today. We had them for both lunch and dinner though for dinner hubby requested for dryish version with ‘Hakka sauce’

I saw some amazing fresh sauropus at the new Longdan, Asian supermarket near me, so I just have to cook this. I made the dough last night and this morning we all had an early lunch. Then I made another round of dough for dinner. Normally I do not cook this because I seldom see fresh changkuk manis that is so fresh, and this dish cannot happen without it (in my opinion) It would just be wrong.

I have neglected my blog for a bit, due to holiday in Malaysia and life but as I have a few requests for blogging my version of Mee Hoon Kueh I decided to do so today as I have taken some passable photographs. I will ask someone to proofread for me later and will make any changes when and if needed (when cannot chuck it to artistic licence) kekekekeke

As I have blogged this I might as well give some TIPs.

TIP – I fried the shallots the other day so it is not too much hard work aka not all in one day.

TIP – I do not like to marinate my mince with anything dark because I prefer to have a clear broth, not brownish.

TIP – Cook your noodles in another pot of water before assembling and serving. This gives you a clearer broth and not so ‘starchy’

TIP – I used bread flour and not plain and it worked out fine as bread flour is high in gluten and the windowpane effect is absolutely good. No, no it is not bread as no levelling agent was used!

Note: Please do not ask why I do not have some measurements for if you cook anything at all you will understand it is all based on your taste and how much broth, meat etc you are using. Any cook will understand.

The only measurements I need to give you is the dough of course. BUT again, you have to also work that out for yourself. After a couple of hours rest/proofing and another knead the dough will be smoother so please do not be tempted to make it too ‘wet/soft’, certainly not as soft as bread.

With a Cantonese mother and a Hakka father I decided I have to cook this dish this way. I know, I know I deviated from traditions but I want to pay homage to both my parents. I blame it on lockdown. Too much time at home thinking. kekekekekeke

As my daughter is trying to learn how to do a Cantonese roast pork properly we can use the fruit of her labour. For my Traditional Cantonese Roast pork belly recipe – Traditional Cantonese Crispy Roast pork belly – Siu Yuk, 脆皮烧肉. – Just Julie (julieolive.co.uk) She made this piece of Cantonese roast pork yesterday and I turned it into Hakka Mui Choy with Pork Belly 梅菜扣肉 today for our evening meal.

Surprisingly the hubby love it and the daughter had a second helping too as we skipped lunch today. They were saving their calories for this dish. So funny.

I am very happy with this dish so I am posting recipe to share. I suppose it does take a bit of time to make the Cantonese Roast pork belly but you do not have to do everything in one day.

It’s not a stressful cook on the day as I do not have to boil the pork, marinate and fry on the same day anymore. Cooking it this way I have a different skin texture that I find very pleasant and it does eliminate half the cooking time on the day itself.

I suppose the best of all is that my family loves it.

Today I am going to make Loh Mai Kai aka glutinous rice chicken. It’s another dish that disappeared with my old blog and now that we are in lock down and it’s too cold to go into my garden yet, I will update to this new blog.

I make this dish once or twice a year only, hence it is not worth it for me to buy the proper bowls. Now that was before. I have since been given a set of stainless steel bowls especially for making this dish. I do not like using tin foil either so stainless steel bowls it is! If you do not have any then using rice bowls is all right too. I will never order or eat this dish outside, especially in London because I do not know how many times they have been steamed and re- steamed nor how long and how many days they have been kept. Have they been kept safely and hygienically and so on.

Once in a blue moon I will order at Dim Sum restaurants just to try but am too often disappointed with the soggy soft mess. I much preferred my glutinous rice to be al dente aka with a bit of a bite. Plus the fact my home made ones has more ‘liew’, toppings.

Mushrooms should be plum thick and saucy, chicken should taste of chicken which one can only get from chopping a whole chicken yourself. The Chinese sausage should be thin but not too thin with a bite to them, not soft so one can taste the different texture.

I always like to serve my home made Loh Mai Kai 糯米鸡 with spring onions and crispy garlic. Freshness from the spring onions and crunch form the crispy garlic, umami taste of the mushroom, sweet Chinese sausage, smell of sesame oil mingling with rice wine …………..

First updated on 19th April 2017 – Old lost blog

As a young teenager growing up in Kuching, Sarawak my father took us out for supper few days a week. I do realized how extremely lucky my siblings and I were now.

One such supper is this Char Koay Kark . This recipe is for the plain Koay Kark aka no fresh radish grated inside, just rice flours mixture. This is the street food version. Not the ones sold in Dim Sum restaurants but it’s oh so nostalgic.

This Char Koay Kar dish brings back memories of us 5 siblings, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing at the back of my mother’s Volvo 244 in racing green. Those were carefree days and our only worries were our parents not buying for us what we want!

I have extremely fond memories of this street food Char Koay Kark. There was an elderly gentleman with a makeshift stall selling it by an old iron fenced gate near the then Cathay cinema. He used to wrap them into a corn shape with newspaper on the outside and a piece of plastic inside.

If I remembered correctly the plain ones were 50 sen and the added eggs 70 sen. I can’t remember there being prawns but I just wanted to add to mine today.

I have not cook this for years. Hubby reminded me the other day so I decided to cook for him. He loves the preserved sweet radish and will always request for extra! I remembered a few years back when I was first experimenting to make the rice cakes, a lot went into the rubbish bin before I settled on this combo that is not too hard, nor too soft and with just enough ‘chew’

Today I have decided to write out with pics in details. If you made it please post me a pic or tag me and you would have made this post worthwhile.

TIP – Make the koay kark, rice cake at least a day ahead. After storing in the fridge it is easier to cut. Oil your knife.

A good dish we all enjoy but I do not often make. This is because i only like this dish made with Cantonese Crispy Roast Pork Belly. The skin just have that taste non other cooking style of pork can replace!

Coating the yam and frying don’t take that long and neither is it difficult to cook the sauce. Longest time spent was mincing the garlic and shallots. I prefer a lot of garlic.

After you got everything ready it is just a matter of arranging onto your dish, here I am using mason pie dishes as I normally cook a few and vacuum seal them to freeze and gift to friends.

The husband love it a lot and always ask if I am giving any and how many away. kekekekekeke I think I have to make this more often. He will pick the thin pork to eat and leave the skin to daughter’s delight. However she has to fight with him for the yam.

Please adjust the seasoning to suits your taste. I love rose wine but some people might not or finds it hard to get. I don’t add salt as the nam yue I buy is salty enough to warrant me adding some sugar even. Adjust and make it to your liking. It’s not that hard to cook as long as you get your roast pork all ready. Have fun!

Char Keow Teow or fried flat rice noodles is another of my recipe that I have lost with my old blog. So I am now replacing it.

Because I live in the UK and I missed the charcoal taste I am here using a few drop of liquid smoke to give me that special ooooomph…. just like the market stall.

Because I am a greedy (Tham Chiak Kui) I put everything possible into my Char Keow Teow. However I did not have any fish cake in my freezer so have to go without.

I have to admit that losing my old blog is still making me sad. I have to search deep for the inclination to work on this new blog. At times I have messages from friends asking for recipes and asking why my old links don’t work and that give me a boost to continue. today is one of them days that I have the ‘uuuummmph’ to write up a few more recipes. Thanks peeps.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.