Cream of Corn Soup

The simplest soup. Real easy.

Boys love it because sweet corn is another of their favorite! Muahaahhahahahaaaaa...


Here's what you will need:

* Pork ribs soup (Brew pork ribs with peppercorn, use only the soup)
* Del Monte Sweet Corn Cream Style
* Del Monte Whole Kernel Corn (drained and discard water)
* Picnic Ham (2 - 3 slices, diced)
* Mushroom (I used Korean Enoki Mushroom, cut to stripes about 2" long)
* 2 Eggs
* 2tbsp of corn starch (mixed with water)
* Streaky bacon (fried whole and cut to bit size)

This is what I did:

1. In a pot of pork rib soup, add in Sweet Corn Cream and drained Kernel. Boil in low fire.

2. Add in picnic ham, enoki mushroom.

3. Beat egg on the side, and add in swirl-wise. Let it sit in the boiling soup for a while before you stir. Add corn starch mixture to thicken soup; adjust according to your desired consistency.

4. Serve warm with bacon garnish.


Psst psst... you can replace pork ribs soup with Chicken Stock. I didn't add in any seasoning in this soup. It's tasty enough as you can imagine with bacon and creamy corn pack. 

Chawanmushi

I SUCCEEDED!!!!!! Hooray!!!

I have tried to make chawanmushi all my life. But always fail. Either custard turns out dome like a cake... or too hard... or watery wet... either way, it is NEVER quite what you get from the Japanese eatery. Very frustrating.

I chanced upon this at All That Matters. And decided to give it a try. Afterall, she sounded like a Japanese, though I can not be sure. Do you know?

Anyway, like she said, the ratio of Egg to Liquid should be 1:150ml. I based it on 120ml because I had some other ingredients in there which may release water during steaming.

And most importantly, is really to watch the fire! The steamer, or rather, the water cannot be bubbling boiling hot like the way it should be when you steam a fish. Instead, the flame should be gentle and the water bubbling just slightly. So I boiled water separately in my water flask, and pour it in to fill up my steamer wok and keep it boiling further with a l-o-w flame.  And it works!!!!!!

Wahahahaha... Look at the texture. So happy! The custard really is that of a real chawanmushi. However, the taste is a bit different probably because I didn't use dashi stock. And I didn't use Shimeiji Mushroom. Instead, I used chicken breast bits and dried mushroom.

Man and boys like it, except they thought it was a bit salty. I shall remember to dilute the chicken stock with water next time, and use proper ingredients now that I know how this works! Hurray!

Maybe crab sticks,.. gingko nuts, mushroom,... Japanese fish cake,... prawns,... chicken breast... Will definitely do this again... and again!

Here's what you'd need (serves 4):

* 4 eggs
* 480ml Chicken Stock (I will reduce it further to 400ml chicken stock with 80ml water next time)
* Chicken breast fillet (sliced to strips), seasoned slightly with pepper & pinch of salt
* Some dried Chinese mushrooms (soaked, softened and cut to strips)

This is what I did:

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs very lightly. Pour in 480ml of liquid (Stock + Water, in your desired proportion). Stir and mix well.

2. In the individual cups / bowls, place in the chicken fillet and mushrooms. Sieve the mixture into the cups/bowls.

3. Cover the cups / bowls with aluminum foil (to avoid water droplets from dripping onto the custard, so as to achieve perfect smooth surface).

4. Steam on low fire for about 20mins. Check doneness by tapping the custard gently with a chopstick.

5. Once done, turn off the fire. Leave the cups / bowls in the steamer to keep warm till ready to serve.

Psst psst... 
* I have no ramekin bowls, so I steamed my chawanmushi in the typical Chinese soup bowls.
* Why only 480ml? Since ratio should be 1:150ml, then I should be using 600ml for 4eggs. So why 480ml only? Coz I had some chicken bits in there, and chicken do excrete some water when steamed. So I based it on 1:120ml. Essentially, it is said that if you only have eggs in there with no other ingredients, then base it on 1:150ml.

Steamed Chicken with Blended Ginger

Rather self-explanatory I think. This is what it is! Steamed Chicken with blended ginger served on its side.

One of my lazy-no-idea-don't-know-what-to-cook lunch. Muahahahahaha...

I seasoned the chicken generously with soya sauce, sesame oil, a little pinch of salt and pepper. Toss it a bit, massage it slightly. Set aside for an hour. Sprinkle some wolfberry on it, and steam on high for about 30minutes. There's no need to add any water; the chicken will excrete its own juice! And that is what makes it real yummy.

(Errr... yes, I used a whole chicken. Chopped it up silly.)

On the side, prepare some big slices of ginger, and blend them in a food processor. Add a little water to ease the blending a bit. Serve it on a saucer, alongside your steamed chicken.

See how fine it turns out. Dip your chicken in it and yummmmmmm.

Baked Chicken with Vegetables

This is my best ever one-tray dish! But be warned that it does take a bit of time to prepare because of the hours required in seasoning the chicken thighs...

However, you will be greatly rewarded with a deeply flavoursome dish at your dining table! The chicken thigh is juicy, succulent and tender! Probably due to the slow bake. The gravy is superbly tasty.

With this dish, there's NO need to prepare any soup to accompany your meal. Serve with rice or pasta as you so fancy ;)

Ingredients:

Chicken legs/thighs (whole)
1 whole onion (sliced)
1 Potato (sliced; I used Russet Potato)
Broccoli (sliced - flat-wise)
Cauliflower (sliced - flat-wise)
Capsicum (3 types, sliced)
1 Carrot (sliced)
Celery (couple of stalks)
1 Tomato (sliced)


Here's what I did:

1. Marinate chicken thighs generously with pepper, sesame oil, and soya sauce. Sprinkle some herbs (optional; I used Masterfoods Mixed Herbs). Cover and chill in fridge for at least 4 hrs (Turning thighs over mid-way).


2. Pre-heat oven to 200degC. Take marinated chicken out of fridge.

3. With a pot of water just enough to cover these vegetables, bring the Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot, Celery, and Potato to a low boil -- enough to soften the vegetables slightly. Add in a pinch of salt.

4. In the baking tray, lay onions.

5. Drain the boiled vegetables and lay them over onions (do not discard water). Followed by capsicums and lastly, tomato.

 6. Scoop in some boiled water -- just enough to cover the layers of vegetables.

7. Place chicken thighs on top. Skin side up. Drizzle the marinate-juice onto chicken. Sprinkle some more herbs as desired.

8. Bake at 200 degC for 30mins.

9. Flip chicken over and return to oven for another 20-25mins.

10. Lastly, turn chicken over (skin side up again) and bake for 5-10mins or till skin is golden brown. Serve.