Bak Choy with Fried Dace

Bak Choy with Fried Dace

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ So how many of you have like having a nice meal but just couldn't be bothered to stand in the kitchen toiling away over your meal which will be gone within 15 minutes of munching, chewing and swallowing..You? You too? And yes you too in the back, well I thought so, because I can be like that too. Sometimes you think, why bother? Since its going to look like mush when it reaches my stomach anyway. Oh Ho Ho, that's where you're mistaken. Did you know you can eat with obviously your mouth, nose and also eyes?

Yes, your mouth taste the food with your tongue, your nose smells and your eyes see the food, sending signals within micro-seconds telling your brain "YUMM! Drool*" or "IEW! I'm SO not having that" and even "Sigh* This again" So I think it is important to a certain extend how our food looks like, that's why I always try to make my food as presentable and pleasing to the eye as my skills take me.

Dont's fret, its not difficult to make your food look good even if it is just a simple dish like this dish I am going to share with you, which is Bak Choy with Fried Dace. Bak Choy is easy enough to cook as well as it is to over cook. Fried Dace has never looked good when I open the can but that does not mean I can't work with it. The rule of thumb is keeping your plate keep clean and not let it be dripping with sauce and drops of oil on the side of the plate. (check back next week for more detailed tips and tricks)

Ingredients: Serves 4
Bak Choy
1 can Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans (shred fried dace)
2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. Boil some water in a Pan/ Wok, adding in a pinch of Salt and 1 Tbsp of Sesame Oil.
2. In another heated Pan of medium flame, add in 1 Tbsp of oil from the can of Fried Dace and let it heat up before adding in the shredded Fried Dace and Salted Beans. Lightly fry them for 3 minutes until the Fried Dace becomes a nice dark brown. Turn off flame. Keep Fried Dace aside warm.
3. Once the water has come to a boil, put in the Bak Choy neatly in and blanch it for 1-2 minutes. They should turn into vibrant green.
4. Drain water and place Bak Choy neatly on a plate. Place Fried Dace and Salted Black Beans on top. Pour the remaining oil from the Pan and Sesame Oil over the Bak Choy.

That should not take more that 10 minutes to make and the results would be what you see above. the Bak Choy has a fresh and vibrant colour with the dark, rich brown from the Fried Dace. If you like more taste on your vegetable, dish out the Fried Dace, leaving the oil in and toss the Bak Choy in the same Pan. Enjoy!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Fried Sauce Noodle 炸醬麵 (Zha Jiang Mian)

Dear Whimsical Readers,

Hello! Thank you for dropping by to read on our homemade recipes website of ours. I would like to share something special today, and this dish is one of my favorites ~ "炸醬麵"! It's originality is from my hometown, TAIWAN! My mom is a Taiwanese, thus she always cooks the best taiwanese food for my family back home in Malaysia. Although, she said the noddle and the flavor of the pork does play a big role in her cooking. The ingredients we purchase from the local market stores, will at least I can say deliver a decent taste for this dish. Without further ado, here are the fabulous ingridients for the dish! It's simple:

Serves 4

500 grms of minced pork (season with salt and pepper)
50 grms of Mushroom (soak them in a bowl of water for 10mins at least)
1 spoon of Hoisin Sauce
1 spoon of Black Bean Sauce
1 packet of tofu/fried tofu (chopped)
3 cloves of Garlic (diced)
3 Tbs of Vegetable Oil
4 Sticks of Chinese Noodle (preferably oil)
1 Carrot (Slice them thinly, and leave it in the refrigerator)
1 Cucumber/Zuchinni (Slice them thinly, and leave it in the refrigerator)
Sesame oil and White Vinegar to Serve.
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a flat pan while you heat up another bowl of water till boil and chuck the noodle in for about 5-10 minutes.
2. Saute the garlic till fragrant and fry the mushroom till it turns soft and tender.
3. Chuck the meat in, the sauces then the tofu. Stir fry them in medium heat, add salt and pepper to your likings.
4. Serve in a warm bowl/plate, first the noodle, the meat, and finally top them up with cucumber and carrots. To my taste, I would prefer to add a little of sesame oil and vinegar to my noodle. It's just like adding a little bit of magic in the dish.

There you go, simple and easy isn't it? Enjoy!

Yours Sincerely,
the Whimsical Buddies

2in1 Beef and Bamboo in Oyster Sauce

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ So its that time again, when bare trees and the streets are covered in white, the heaters are turned up, warm clothes, hot chocolate and of course presents!! Yes, its winter and christmas is just around the corner (unless you're in Aussie) I love winter! It can be terribly cold compared to where I'm from but nevertheless I absolutely love it! You see, I'm a jacket, scarf and boots person. I'm totally crazy about jacket; winter, spring, summer, autumn jackets one for every season! The same goes for scarfs and boots are especially gorgeous and even more so when you don't the opportunity to wear them. As the saying goes, people always want what they cannot have.

OK, so that's about winter, now about food! I don't know about you but when it's cold, I tend to be a little lazier so I sometimes prefer to cook a bit more so all I have to do for my next meal is to just pop it in the microwave..TING* and its done! So here's a 2in1 recipe for you lazy-bums ;P A warm dish perfect for giving you that warm feeling inside like after taking a hot bath; my Beef and Bamboo in Oyster Sauce dish. You can either eat it like that with a side of steamed white rice or you can make it into a dish on it's own if you're cooking for one. However instead of adding rice, I find that egg-based Noodles are a good match for this dish.

#1 Beef & Bamboo in Oyster Sauce

Ingredients: Serves 2
300 grams Beef (sliced, marinate with 1 Tsp oil, 1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce 15 minutes before cooking)
65 grams Bamboo (thinly sliced)
2 Tsp Ginger (thinly sliced)
1 Tsp Garlic (thinly sliced)
70 grams Carrot (thinly sliced; for colour)
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3-4 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper

#2 Beef & Bamboo Noodles in Oyster Sauce

Ingredients: Serve 2
85 grams Egg-based Noodle
220 grams Beef (sliced, marinate with 1 Tsp oil, 1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce 15 minutes before cooking)
55 grams Bamboo (thinly sliced)
2 Tsp Ginger (thinly sliced)
1 Tsp Garlic (thinly sliced)
70 grams Carrot (thinly sliced; for colour)
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3-4 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper

Egg-based Noodle 

Method:
1. If you're making this dish with the noodles, cook the noodles accordingly and set aside in a bowl, keeping it warm.
2. Meanwhile, in a heated Pan/ Wok of Cooking Oil, add in the Garlic, Ginger and Carrots and stir-fry for a couple minutes.
3. Then, adding in the Bamboo sliced and cook them well for about 5 minutes. (Bamboo gives off a rather pungent smell, ginger helps soften the smell, so add more ginger if you want to)
4. Followed by the beef for another 3-5 minutes, be sure not to over cook your meat.
5. Now, add in the Oyster Sauce, Soy Sauce, Salt & Pepper according to your taste, add about 80ml of Water if you don't like your dish so dry. Let the dish simmer for 2 minutes before dishing out.
6. For this dish to be combined with the Noodles, make sure you add about 1 Tsp of Oil to your Noodles so they do not stick whilst you are cooking the Beef & Bamboo. Also be sure to make your dish slightly saltier so that when you mix the Beef with your Noodles the taste would be just right. Dish out your Beef and mix well with your Noodles in the bowl and serve hot.

I hope you like this recipe I made, Enjoy!

Note:
I find that if you use noodles that are already portioned-out, the chances of you cooking too much of noodles and over-eating are lower. ;)


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Eggs with Tomatoes

Dear Whimsical Readers,

Hello again dear readers! This is the most simple Chinese dish you can ever imagine, and yet very yummy, tasty and delicious!! It goes really well with white rice! Do you believe it will only take you less than 7 minutes to cook! Just crack the eggs, chop the tomatoes and let's get started !

Ingredient: Serves 2
2 Tbs Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 Tomatoes (chop them into cubes or quartered)
Salt and Pepper

Method:
1. Break 2 eggs into a bowl, and beat them lightly.
2. Add salt and pepper into the bowl
3. Add oil into the frying pan in medium heat
4. Fry the tomatoes, season with a pinch of salt
5. Add the eggs, fry them till it forms like a scramble eggs.

Enjoy!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Spicy Fried Noodles

Spicy Fried Noodles

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ I hope you liked last week's Potato Salad, I know I can't wait for my next session of Potato Fun with my bestie. In the meantime, let me show you another type of "starch" from the Asian region. It's not really from anywhere because I sorta created it with a good friend of mine while she was crashing at my place. The thing about fried noodles is you can more or less put whatever you want in it, as long as they go well with each other, the rule goes more or less the same way for fried rice. It's just sometimes you find similar ingredients inside because #1 it's cheaper, #2 easily available throughout the year, #3 it's kinda what people already expect. But that does not mean you can't break free from the norm and experiment yourself. That's what we did and it turned out great so here it is!

Ingredients: Serves 4
300 grams Bee Hoon Noodles (soak according to instructions)
180 grams grams Long Bean (2 inch long) or Chinese Cabbage (thinly chopped)
12-16 Prawns
8 pieces Crab Stick (sliced 1cm)
1 medium Onion (thinly chopped)
2-4 Tbsp Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce (see Mapo Tofu recipe for reference* 12/9/10)
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. As usual in a heated Pan/ Wok of Cooking Oil, lightly stir-fry the Onions for a few minutes.
2. Followed by the Prawns (be careful not to over cook them) for a couple minutes before adding in the Long Beans or Chinese Cabbage. Adjusting the flame to a medium-high, close the lid for 5 minutes.
3. To maintain the bright colours of the vegetables and prawns, what you can do is either dish it out and keep it aside or if using a flat pan, you can move the ingredients around the pan so you can cook you Bee Hoon Noodles simultaneously.
4. Adding in the Been Hoon Noodles and fry them for 5 minutes, adding some Cooking or Sesame Oil if needed to avoid them sticking to the Pan/ Wok.
5. Add in the Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce, according to your spice tolerance level and mix it well. (if you dished out the other ingredients earlier, you might want to add 1/2-1 Tbsp more of the Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce so there is sufficient flavour to mix around.
6. Mixing in all the ingredients well for another 2 minutes and serve hot.

Enjoy!
Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Fried Rice #2 with Fried Dace

Fried Rice with Fried Dace

Dear Whimsical Readers,

F~ This is another version of chinese fried rice, as we all know, fried rice is very simple and can be made with all sorts of ingredients depending on your creativity. This version is from my dear mommy and I love it! So I'd like to share it with everyone, the special ingredient here is Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans, its not the prettiest thing in a can if you're not familiar with Chinese Cuisine. But I assure you, it taste really good. It can also easily go with plain white rice as a dish itself. I've also heard you can cook it with Bak Choy or Bitter Gourd, interesting even for me. Be sure you will see these recipes as soon as I try them! But now, I will show you Fried Rice with Fried Dace, here we go!

Ingredients: Serves 4

4 Cups Overnight Rice

1/2 Can Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans (thinly shredded)

1 Small Chinese Cabbage (thinly sliced)

1 Egg

1 Clove Garlic (finely chopped)

1 Medium Yellow Onion (thinly chopped)

1 Tbsp Ginger (finely sliced)

1 Tbsp Cooking Oil

2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Fried Dace with Salted Black Bean

Method:

1. In a heated Pan/ Wok, add in 1-2 Tbsp Oil from the can of Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans. Fry the Fried Dace, to give it a crunchy texture for the fried rice. Dish out and keep aside.
2. In the same Pan/ Wok, now with Cooking Oil, lightly brown the Garlic, Ginger and Onion. Followed by the Chinese Cabbage and let it cook for 2 minutes.

3. Next, add in the Rice to the mix and continue to cook the mix for another 5 minutes.

4. Then, crack the Egg and mix it well as you cook it. (the Egg binds everything together, so a good mix is crucial) 

5. At this point, add in both Soy Sauce for colour and again mix well.

6. Bringing back the Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans and mixing it well and adding Oil from the can if needed at any point. Taste and adjust to your preference.

7. Dish out and serve hot.

Note:

To enhance the fragrance and flavour of the Fried Rice, use the Oil from the can of Fried Dace with Salted Black Beans instead.

Enjoy!

Your Truly,

The Whimsical Buddies

Rice Going To Waste?

Hello Whimsical Readers,

J~ Good day! Ever scratching over your head for rice going to the waste? It's very wasteful to throw all the left over rice away, especially when it's A LOT! Not to worry, I'm here to help you with the left over rice =) The best way to make use of the left over rice is to use for cooking FRIED RICE! Yes! Left over rice are the perfect for making Fried Rice!

I like to keep my fried rice as "fresh" as possible. That's why I would rather use fresh vegetables instead of frozen vegetables like the ones easily available in the supermarket. The freshness of the vegetables definitely makes a lot of different to the dish's taste and attractiveness in terms colour. Presentation is important. Although it is ironic, since the most suitable rice to make this dish is left over rice.

Ok the dish I am going to share it's really simple typical chinese dish, it's suitable for lunch and even for dinner! This is how it goes..

Ingredients: Serve 2 (Depending on how much you have left over from the night before) Ingredients below are for 2 Cups of rice)

Left Over Rice
1 Tomato (chop into quarters) (for additional sweetness)
1 Fresh Carrot (diced)
2 Tbs Oil
2 Shallots (finely sliced)
2 Cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)
2 Slices of Chinese Cabbage (optional)
2 Eggs (beaten)
4 Long Beans (1cm length)
4 Rashers of Streaky Bacon (if you are bored of bacon, you can always replace bacon with spam, luncheon meat or even chicken)
1 Tbs Chinese ShaoXin Wine
2 Tbs Light Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. Fry the Bacon till tender, take them out and chop them into chunks.
2. Heat Oil in wok, pop in the Garlics and Shallots together till fragrant.
3. Add the tomatoes, fry till it goes a little dry then add in the Egg, fry it turns into omelets like.
4. Mix in the Bacon, Cabbages, Carrots and Long Beans together. Stir fry for about 2 minutes.
5. Finally add in the rice, stir fry, add in all the sauces one by one and add salt and pepper to taste.

Told you it was easy! Cooking time takes approximately 20 minutes. Preparation time about 10 minutes. Enjoy this delicious, simple and easy lunch/dinner.


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 (Spicy)

Mapo Tofu

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ This week's dish is Tofu! Okay, I know what you're thinking..a block of white gelatin thingy that can substitute meat..yuck*. The thing with Tofu is, its very misunderstood. Its originates mainly from the East and Southeast Asian countries such as China, Japan, Korean, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia etc. Tofu are coagulated soy milk which have been pressed together and voilà! Tofu. To coagulate is to add edible acidic substance for example lemon juice but commercial Tofu producers use mainly salt and acids. So now you know some facts about Tofu.

My inspiration to make a Tofu dish happened in class. We were talking somewhere along the lines of housewives being an "occupation" and suddenly Tofu. Don't ask. The respond my class had about Tofu were like yumm from myself and an asian classmate of mine then yuck, err and "how do you eat that??" I don't blame them since their food knowledge of Tofu is under the exotic asian cuisine. Funny but very true.

Back to Tofu, so tonight I made Mapo Tofu. This is one of the Szechuan specialities, a spicy tofu dish. The secret to an authentic Mapo dish should consists of 7 descriptions; numbing 麻 "Má" , spicy 辣 "là", temperature hot 烫 "tàng", fresh 鲜 "xiān" , soft and tender 嫩 "nèn", aromatic 香 "xiāng" and flaky 酥 "sū". But be warned, the authentic one is seriously spicy. I remembered tearing like Niagara Falls but as we say it "Siok ar!"

So this version of the Mapo Tofu is very tone-downed, you should survive it..Haha

Ingredients: Serves 2 (as maincourse) Serves 4 (as side-dish)
1 Box/ 300 grams Silken Tofu (small to medium cubed)
60 grams Chicken/ Pork (minced)
1-2 fresh Chili (finely chopped)
1 Tsp Garlic (finely chopped)
1 Tbsp Spring Onion (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Oil (for fragrance)
3-4 Tbsp Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce (be warn this sauce can be quite spicy, start with 2 Tbsp and adjust to your spice tolerance)
100ml Water
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce

Method:
1. Once your Cooking Oil is heated in your pan/wok, add the Garlic and let it fry until fragrant.
2. Put in the minced Chicken/ Pork and Chili. Let it cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Now add the Tofu and let the mix cook for about 3-5 minutes. Stirring it gently as you do not want to destroy your nicely cubed Tofu.
4. Turn the flame to a medium, then add Water and the Laoganma Chilli Bean Sauce. Close the lid for another 2-3 minutes for the sauce to cook. Here you can opt to add a couple Tsp of Flour if you prefer your sauce to be slightly ticker.
5. Add Salt & Pepper to your liking, just before you serve the Tofu, add the Sesame Oil and Spring Onions and give it a good gently mix to enhance the fragrance.
6. Serve hot and best accompanied with steamed white rice and probably a glass of water at the ready.

Note: I wouldn't recommend using beef because they have a distinct smell which can alter the taste of the dish. (Luckily my mom told me that otherwise mine would have gone wrong since I conveniently had minced beef in the fridge..Haha)

Enjoy!


Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies

Chicken Wings in Soy Sauce

Chicken Wings in Soy Sauce

Hello Whimsical Readers,

F~ This week will be a simple and totally yummy chicken dish with soy sauce. My mom makes this all the time at home because my siblings like it very much and just last week a friend of mine decided to make this for dinner at my place so yes I think I'd like to share this recipe with you.

A little bit about this dish other than my siblings liking it is that it is to my knowledge an international chinese dish because my friend who reminded me of this dish was from Hong Kong, another lovely country filled with many good food to try and of course the shopping!

This is also a dish that goes amazing with plain white rice, I should know, I remember having an additional half a bowl of rice just to go with the sauce..haha. Ok, I'm starting to drool so I better start with the recipe before you drool all over your keyboard.

Ingredients: Serves 4
650 grams Chicken Wings
1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
3-5 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
1-2 Tbsp Flour
200 ml Water
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Method:
1. In a heated pot, add the Cooking Oil then the Chicken Wings and cook them until they're half way done on high flames.
2. Lower the flames to medium and add Light and Dark Soy Sauce, Honey and Water.
3. Mix a little Water with the Flour to avoid Flour "clots" in your sauce mix and for better mixing. Stir well.
4. Let the Chicken Wings simmer with the lid on for approximately 8-15 minutes. The longer you simmer, the softer they become.
5. Add Salt, Pepper and Sesame Oil to your liking and if needed more Light Soy Sauce. By now, your sauce should be of a thicker liquid.
6. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,
The Whimsical Buddies