Visit Countryside #1

 Always love the countryside. I went there and just made pictures as always. There was a harvest time.

Tofu Kai-lan Soup

I always love kai-lan. It s so green, glossy, crunchy, and fresh. I often ate them in the stew style but never in soup.  Finally i cooked it in soup and still tasted so well. The point is how to cook the kai-lan. You want it to be still crunchy, but not under-cook or overcook. And yess, the color will change at some point you cook it. The tip is add a table spoon of baking soda. I'll explain it later. 

It's good to make for lunch or dinner and serve it with hot rice. For the filling you can add anything you like, maybe fish balls, meat balls, or chicken. 

Things you need :

300 grams or bundled of kai-lan

100 grams of chicken liver (slice it)

1 pack of tofu (chicken or egg tofu doesn't matter)

1 regular size of tomatoes (chop sideways into 8 pieces)

Ingredients :

½ of big onion

3 cloves of garlic

some cooking oil

a pinch of salt* (*very little, you may add salty soy sauce later)

a pinch of white pepper

a table spoon of Japanese salty soy sauce

a table spoon of oyster sauce

a tea spoon of rice vinegar

2 cups of water

a maizena/cornstarch water (a table spoon maizena + half cup of water)

Preparation :

For the veggies,

Wash and drain it. Let it be like that we will chop it later. Get skillet to boil some water as deep as the kai-lan can sink into. Boil a water, add a table spoon of baking soda and the kai-lan. Let the veggies sit there for 3 minutes only. 

After 3 minutes, remove from the hot water and chop it into 4 parts. Separate it on the other plate.  Now it's tofu turn. 

Slice the tofu into some pieces for half inch thick. The tofu texture is so soft. You may break it. The tip is: I use to dip the tofu into the hot water for 3 minutes before i chop it. It s believed to make the texture a bit easy to chop without breaking it. Cut from the middle.  After you slice your tofu, fry it. Fry until golden brown and the texture solid. Separate it on the other plate.

For the Ingredients, i just minced it. Slice the tomatoes. For the chicken liver, i would fry it first then sliced them into some tiny slices.

Prepare the sauces ingredients too,

you can use any cooking oil. i used olive. For the salty soy sauce, you can use other salty soy sauces if you don't have one like mine.  For me, Japanese soy sauce tastes different. 

Direction:

1. Stove on. Get on skillet and some cooking oil to saute garlic and onions. Stir well, when it gives you good smell add tomatoes. Stir well. 
   
2. Add some water and ingredients : a pinch of salt, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, a pinch of white pepper. 
   
3. Add the rest of the water, salty soy sauce, the fried tofu, chicken liver, and the maizena/cornstarch water. let it boil some. Remove from the stove.
4. Prepare the kai-lan in the other bowl. Pour the soup water on the kai-lan.
5. Serve it for 2 people with hot rice ;). 

this is how it looks,

Happy cooking :)

Easy Kwetiaw Noodle for Lunch

Hi there, it’s noodle time. I had a funny day with the noodle. When I cooked one, someone ate them up. So I wondered where it'd gone. Then my mother said she had them all.. wow.. must be so hungry :D. I decided to cook again the same. I had a hard time sleeping at night.. yeah it sounds so too much, but yes I couldn't wait morning time so I could cook. I made it for my lunch but still my mother wanted some.. :p

picture from : http://dessydinata.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/kwetiau-rice-noodles/
there explained how to make the noodle, good visit!

So, have you ever heard the “kwe tiaw” ? or maybe “he fen”? it s another type of Asian oriental noodle. Yes, it s another Chinese noodle. It is made from rice gluten. In English, we call it as “rice gluten noodle”. But in some other countries they call it with so many names like “kwetiaw" or "kwe teow" (粿條) (Southeast Asia), "guotiau" (pinyin: guǒtiáo), (Chinese, Canton), etc. The noodle is pretty stuffed. Because it s made from rice so you don't have to eat it with noodle. The good thing is the taste isn't as same as rice even though it s made from the rice. I'll share the way how to make dish from it. It s pretty easy to make and you can make it into 2 portions.

my noodle ;)

Things you need:

500 grams shahe fen noodle (i prefer wet noodle than dried noodle)

200 grams or a bundle of cai sim  ("coy sim", Chinese cabbage).

10 fish balls (slice it into 4 slices)

200 grams of chicken fillet, diced into small cubes. (you can add more, if you like chicken)

1 or 2 eggs, beaten slightly, fried, shred, separate it on another plate.

Ingredients :
3 big cloves of garlic, minced
1 or 1/2 big onion
a pinch of salt (be careful, taste it! you may add some but add it with salty soy sauce later)
salty soy sauce 
2 Table spoons of oyster sauce
A Table spoon of sweet soy sauce
A little fish sauce* (*optional, if your cooking is already salty with salt and salty soy sauce , fish sauce may no need to add. Fish sauce used to give more aroma and taste but yes, it s also tasted salty)
A table spoon of sesame oil
A pinch of white pepper
A Table spoon of rice vinegar 
A cornstarch water ( a table spoon full cornstarch four + 1/2 cup water)
water (i used about 1 - 1½ cup)

Preparations:

I showed you the noodles. I had dried noodle and the wet one. But i preferred the wet noodle. It s easier for me to process. But first, you need to wash the noodle with clean water. Sometime the noodle contain the water from the package to preserve it. So get the filter, like vegetable basket, colander, or sieve then drain it with clean water.  

For the leavy, i used cai sim. It's really easy to be found and cheap veggies. It 's rich of iron so it s good one. I chopped the cai sim into some part just like that.. beside cai sim,  you can use cabbage or sprouts. Some people may add leeks. You can add that too. But don't over cooked the veggies.. to keep the crunchy. 

minced the garlic and the onion. If your garlic cloves not big, add about 2 more.. Some people may like onion, in this cooking i used one regular size of onion. Mince it!

Direction :

1. Stove on! Get skillet on with some cooking oil. Wait until it s pretty hot to cook the onion + garlic. If it s hot enough, it s time for onion + garlic in.. cook it until golden brown and gives you good smell.
2. After onion golden brown, it's chicken time. Add the chicken cubes, keep stirring. Manage your heat (it may be a bit sticky burn). 
3. Add fish balls, stir well, cook them until the chicken changes colors to white and solid shape.
4. Add cai sim veggies. Keep stirring. Add shred fried eggs too.
5. Don't forget to add the ingredients : a pinch of salt (very little), salty soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, a pinch of white pepper, and sesame oil.
6. Add a little bit water, to cook the veggies. 
7. Add the noodles. Stir well.. 
8. Add the rest of the water to cook it.. taste the water too, if it still needs a "salty" taste you can add with fish sauce or just salty soy sauce.. the bottom line is don't be too salty.. 
9. Add the cornstarch water and stir until the water gone - thick, and remove it from the stove.
10. Serve it on your beautiful plate. You can add fried shallots and chopped chilies for the topping and don't forget to eat with chopstick ;)

Happy trying, happy cooking ;)