Tofu Meat Patties

| San

tofu meat patties

Helping my family to cut down on meat intake after the first week of CNY festive binge eating, and adding firm tofu to meat dishes is definitely one of the best way.

A family favorite is pan fried tofu with minced pork in oyster sauce.  This time, I crush the firm tofu into crumbles and mix it with mince meat to form patties for pan frying.  Then I cook them in this korean barbeque sauce left over from the steamboat dinner, which you can also easily prepare at home like this.

This recipe is adapted roughly from here, here and here.

TOFU MEAT PATTIES
INGREDIENTS

150g minced pork
1/2 a package firm tofu
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon corn starch
Dash of salt and white pepper
Oil to fry patties and cook sauce
1/4 medium yellow onion, chopped roughly
3 tablespoons of Korean bbq sauce
1/2 cup water

METHOD

01. Marinate minced pork in soy sauce, corn starch, salt and pepper for about 10 minutes.

02. Crush firm tofu into crumbs with clean bare hand.

03. Mix tofu crumbles, marinated minced pork and oatmeal together in a large bowl.

04. Add egg to the mixture and stir to combine.

05. The patty will be wet, but not runny, and will firm up after pan frying.  Otherwise, you may add a tablespoon of oatmeal if you find the patty mixture too wet for handling.

06. Scoop a heap tablespoon of patty mixture, and place it gently in a heat pan with 4 tablespoon of oil.  Flatten with the back of the spoon to loosely form a round patty.*

07. Repeat with the remaining patty mixture.

08. Flip over to cook the other side of the patty when one side is cooked and turns golden brown.

09.  Transfer to plate and set aside.

10. In the same frying pan, if there is no oil remaining after cooking the patties, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, and cook onion pieces till soft.

11. Mix the Korean bbq sauce with 1/2 cup of water and add into the softened onions.

12. Once the sauce starts to bubble and boil, add in the cooked patties, stir around to coat patties with sauce.  Continue to cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.

13. Tranfer to plate and serve immediately.

NOTES

++ * I am able to handle the patty mixture to shape it into bigger patties, if I wet my hands with water.  Adding more oatmeal also helps to make the mixture more manageable.

Homemade Popiah Filling – Meatless Version

| San

homemade popiah filling

Is there any difference between Spring Rolls 春卷 and Popiah 薄饼?  I tend to call the deep fried type commonly available on the Dim Sum menu as Spring Rolls, whereas the kind that you have to wrap the ingredients yourself in handmade “pancake style” skin, and eat immediately before the skin gets soaked through with gravy are known as Popiah to me.  I hope I am right.

I prefer the latter, as it is less greasy to cook without the deep frying part.

Plus, Popiah feels like a healthy dish when you top up on the filling with more greens like fresh crispy lettuce, cilantro leaves or chinese celery, and blanched bean sprouts.

Plus, it is real fun to have everyone gather around the dining table and chat while wrapping your own popiah.  DIY Popiah makes a great party food item.

Plus, the ingredients for Popiah can be prepared way ahead, and be reheated when ready to eat.  Somehow, the filling tastes even better after reheating.

Plus, it’s a complete meal on its own.  With the vegetables covering most of the vitamins and fiber requirement, I simply add fried bean curd, peanut grounds, chopped hard boiled eggs to top up on the protein level.

Most of the preparation job lies in julienning jicama and carrot.  I have been looking at a chopper set to make the grating and collecting job easier.  But my $2 grater from you-know-where does not look like it is wearing out anytime soon.

I am amazed that it did not bend under my rough handling, turn rusty or blunt after so long!  And I have found the right pot and the perfect position to anchor the grater, so that the vegetable julienne ends up nicely inside the vessel.

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With the julienning job easier, let’s get the Popiah party rolling with the filling recipe!

This recipe size serves well for my family of four with 2 young children.  The ingredients cooks in and fills up a 20cm pot nicely.  May want to double the recipe for 4-6 adults.

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MEATLESS POPIAH FILLING
INGREDIENTS

1 large turnip / jicama, julienned
1 medium carrot, julienned
8 dried shitake mushrooms, softened and sliced thinly
2 red chillies, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons fermented soy bean paste (tau cheo)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce or date syrup*
Salt and white pepper, to taste

METHOD

01. In a heated pot/ wok, add oil till it warms up.

02. Fry fermented soy bean paste and garlic together till fragrant.

03. Add red chillies and mushrooms, stir to cook.

04. Add carrots, mix well, then add turnip/jicama, stir fry for few minutes till vegetables are cooked.

05. Add sugar, and date syrup*.

06. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

07. Allow filling to simmer for a few minutes without getting burnt**.  Turn off fire.  Ready to serve.

NOTE

++ * I use date syrup instead of dark say sauce as I prefer my filling looking less dark in colour.

++ ** I do not add water/stock to cook my filling, so it is not as watery as other recipes, which makes the wrapping of popiah easier with lesser gravy.  I sometimes add a bit of the liquid reserved from soaking dried mushrooms to make the filling slightly wetter, totally optional.

Single Serving Tomato Rice

| San

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I am using cherry tomatoes to make this single serving tomato rice instead of a whole tomato like this.

I love this recipe.  It is no more difficult than making steam plain white rice.

I have also used this recipe for making cheese baked rice.  Simply put the cooked seasoned rice in an baking dish, top with grated mozzarella cheese, pop into a toaster or oven till the cheese melt.

SINGLE SERVE TOMATO RICE
INGREDIENTS :
- 1 cup rice
- 1 cup of water*
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- Pinch of salt
- Dash of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese
- Pinch of teaspoon dried sweet basil

INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Wash and drain rice.

02. * Remove 1 tablespoon of water from the cup of water.  In a small pot, add rice, water, pepper, salt and olive oil. Stir to mix well.

03. Cut a cross slit on tomato base.  Arrange the tomatoes in the center of the pot.

04. Cover the pot and let the rice cook over a small-medium fire for about 8 minutes.

05. Turn off the heat when all the water has been absorbed by the rice.  Let the pot of rice sit undisturbed in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.

06. With a spatula, toss and mix the tomato and rice well.  Serve immediately.

Stir Fried Assorted Mushrooms

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I am rushing off to bake my first brioche of the year before the kids are home from school.  So I won’t describe much about this savory mushroom stir fry dish that I cooked last week, except that I made them slightly saltier, as a side dish to go with my plain millet porridge.  Feel free to reduce the amount of oyster sauce to 1 tablespoon, or dilute with more of the liquid reserved from soaking the dried mushrooms, to make the dish less salty.

Mushroom lovers like me will use at least 3 kinds of mushrooms for a stir fry dish like this.  I used 2 types of meaty texture mushrooms : fresh shitake and king oyster, to add some bulk, as the tea tree mushrooms are on the scrawny side.  Also these 2 fresh mushrooms do not have too strong a fungi taste, so as to let the dish takes on only the tea tree mushroom’s aroma, the main star of this dish!

VEGETARIAN STIR FRY ASSORTED MUSHROOMS
SERVES 1
INGREDIENTS

50g dried tea tree mushrooms
2 stalks King oyster (Eryngii) mushrooms, sliced
2 fresh Shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 small knot of ginger, about 1 cm, julienned
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
1 cup of liquid reserved from soaking tea tree mushrooms
White pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

01. The night before, wash and then soak the dried tea tree mushrooms in a bowl filled with enough filtered water to submerge the mushrooms.  Leave in fridge overnight.  Before cooking, remove the mushrooms from the bowl, squeeze out the water, chop mushrooms into 2 cm lengths.  Reserve the soaking liquid for later use.

02. Heat up cooking oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add ginger slices and fry till they turn aromatic and slightly brown.

03. Add in the chopped tea tree mushrooms, stir around to cook.  The pan will be almost dry, as dried mushrooms do not release water.  Add 2 tablespoon of reserved soaking liquid to let the steam from the water cook the tea tree mushrooms faster.  Continue cooking till most of the water evaporates.

04. Add in the remaining fresh mushroom slices, mix well.  Some liquid will be released by the fresh mushroom as they get cooked.

05. Mix vegetarian oyster sauce with the remaining liquid left in the cup.

06. Pour sauce mixture over the mushrooms, stir to mix well.

07. Continue to cook and let liquid reduced to a light gravy.  Add a dash of pepper, season to taste.

08. Remove from heat and transfer to serving plate.  As usual, eat while it’s piping hot.

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar – Feb 2015

| San

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February’s wallpaper design deserves to be a bit more chirpy with Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day.
I got the Valentine vector card free from here (Pepsized.com) created by Ewa Sajdak, and modify it to a desktop wallpaper.

Mine measures 1920×1080.
Click on the above image, then right click to “save image as” to download.

How I Clean Out My Nutella Bottle

| San

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I normally buy Nutella in smaller 350g jars.  The larger ones are slightly cheaper, but by the time you get to the bottom of the jar, the spread would have totally dried out; not so easy to spoon out, and not smooth enough to spread on breads or pancakes.

The smaller jars also make it easier to control our consumption level, as I usually give one or two months break in between to switch to other spreads like cheese, kaya and peanut butter.  I feel that with the amount of sugar it contains, it is still better off as an occasional treat than an everyday food.

Sometime last year, I got the 1kg Nutella that was available in a limited edition glass jar.  As expected, as the spread turned drier, consumption came to a halt, and the almost empty huge jar was left untouched for at least 2 weeks, with what’s remaining that was good for at least 5 more servings.

So here’s what Mama Scooge did to get the Nutella engine starting again:

Add some neutral tasting oil that would not clash with the hazelnut + chocolate taste of Nutella.

I add coconut oil as I have seen homemade nutella recipes using it as an ingredient.  It works for me.

Do not add too much at first.  Stir to mix and see if the right consistency is achieved, if not, add a little more, about a teaspoon at a time.  I added only 1 tablespoon to mine, but stir like crazy to avoid more oil being added.

And that’s it, back to its shiny spreadable stage!  I even transfer the coconut oil-reconstituted Nutella into a smaller bottle so that it won’t dry out any faster than being in a large almost empty bottle.

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Tea Tree Mushrooms Pasta Stir Fry

| San

teatreemushroompasta001 teatreemushroompasta002 teatreemushroompasta003The last time when I stumbled upon fresh tea tree mushrooms (茶树菇) , I cooked this.  Since then, they have not been seen around the market, I’ll even consider myself lucky to be able find the dried versions,  as most of the stores are carrying the more popular dried shitake varieties.

So once I get my hands on a packet, I start to plan on the dishes to make with it.  Once the packaging is opened, it is important to store the dried mushrooms in airtight containers, or even better, in the fridge.  Otherwise they will lose their aroma over time.  Still, there is no reason to cling on to them for too long, leaving them uncooked in the fridge.  After all, I buy them to cook and eat, not for display.  I hope to finish up the 150g packet in 2 weeks, or shorter if possible.

After washing the tea tree mushrooms under a running tap to remove dust /dirt, soak these tea tree mushrooms in water, leaving it overnight in the fridge.  The long thin stalks tend to be the hardest portion, and need a longer soaking time than regular shitake mushrooms.  I usually reserve the liquid used for soaking any dried mushrooms, and use it in stir fries or soups.

TEA TREE MUSHROOM PASTA STIR FRY
SERVES TWO
INGREDIENTS

- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 40g tea tree mushrooms, soak to soften
- Cooked pasta of your choice
- Dried herbs
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Liquid reserved from soaking mushrooms

INSTRUCTIONS

01. Squeeze out water from the tea tree mushrooms.  Trim away the ends.  Chop them into roughly 2 cm length.  Set aside.
02. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat.
03. Fry chopped garlic till fragrant, and add dried herbs.
04. Add chopped mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of mushroom stock reserved from liquid used to soak mushrooms in.  Stir around to cook the mushrooms.
05. Add cooked pasta, stir to mix well with the mushrooms.
06. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
07. Transfer to serving plates.  Drizzle paa with more olive oil.
08. Serve immediately.

Matcha Avocado Banana Mousse

| San

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A small opened packet of Matcha powder has been left sitting in my fridge for more than one month.  I am no Matcha connoisseur, but still, it is not good to leave it unused for too long either.  So a Matcha binge it shall be this month, which doesn’t really hurt, given the health benefits I often read about green tea like these.

First up, a mousse recipe inspired by this, recreated with existing ingredients at home.

MATCHA AVOCADO BANANA MOUSSE
INGREDIENTS

1/2 avocado, peeled + stone removed
1 large banana, peeled
1 tablespoon date syrup
1 tablespoon matcha powder
Sprinkle of chia seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

01. Put avocado and banana in a blender and puree.
02. Pour pureed avocado and banana into a serving bowl.
03. Top with the remaining ingredients.
04. Serve immediately.

NOTES TO SELF

// Original recipe calls for 1 medjool date instead of date syrup.
// Chia seeds topping is my own idea.