Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

Ok. The gynae gave me some really bad news today. Here was how our conversation went:

Me: I would probably exceed the recommended weight gain range of 25-35 pounds (in my mind I was thinking: C’mon, how many pregnant women actually gain weight in that range?!?)

Gynae: So how much have you gained so far? I did not check your weight difference today.

Me: I have gained 33 pounds so far. (I am at week 34 of pregnancy now.)

Gynae: Looks like you will reach 40 pounds. You better be careful with what you eat now cos whatever weight you gain now will be YOUR weight after the baby is born.

“The weight gain will stay with YOU YOU YOU YOU…” … her voice rang through my mind as I imagined her wave a finger of shame at me for not falling within the recommended weight gain range of 25-35 pounds.

Blistering barnacles! This was some bad news. With a heavy heart, I trudged to the supermarket and looked forlornly at the pork belly wobbling in their layers of fats, the chicken wings waving at me and the tidbits smiling at me.

I guess I have to eat healthy for the next few weeks. There goes my stewed pork belly, fried chicken wings
, and sweet delights.

While I walked from the vegetable aisle to the poultry section, then back again… kind of like wandering aimlessly… I picked up a piece of silken tofu. “Eat healthy… eat healthy….” psyching myself up that I was doing the right thing.

Back home, I rummaged through my shelf of recipe books and then finally decided on making Steamed Egg Tofu.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

I could make 2 plates of steamed egg tofu with the ingredient amount below.
- 1 pc silken tofu, cut into small 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp dried shrimp, pre-fried
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 lb minced pork
- 1 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 stalk spring onions, chopped
- 1 red chilli, chopped

Seasoning for pork:

- salt, white pepper, corn flour

Seasoning for egg:

- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- a few dashes of white paper

Preparation and Cooking Method:

1. Marinate pork with a sprinkle of salt, a few dashes of white pepper and a sprinkle of corn flour. Mix well.

2. Arrange cut tofu on a plate. Scatter dried shrimp on the tofu.

3. Lightly beat eggs in a big bowl. Add minced pork and mix well. Slowly pour in stock and add light soy sauce and pepper. Mix well then pour egg mixture over tofu and shrimp.

4. Bring water in steamer to boil and steam egg tofu dish over medium heat for 10 minutes.

5. Garnish with chopped spring onions and chilli. Serve with plain white rice.

Steamed Egg Tofu - This is as healthy as I can get for the day. What’s your healthy recipe?

What started off as a recipe for Steamed Tofu With Shallot Oil from my “Hawkers’ Fare Simplified” recipe book, evolved into one which is attacked by ground pork to become Steamed Tofu With Stir-Fried Minced Pork, simply because my brain still had images of what Rasa Malaysia and Tigerfish had dished up previously.

This dish appeals to our array of senses:

Sight: Colorful mix of red chilli, green spring onions, orangey dried shrimp, crusty brown shallots and cooked minced pork.
Taste: Savory
Smell: Fragrance of shallots lingering on in the air
Touch (Texture): Smooth and soft tofu balanced with slightly rough texture of ground pork
Hearing: The sauteing of the sliced shallots in the hot oil.

J is not a fan of tofu, whether it’s silky soft tofu or firm tofu, unless it’s the “tao huay” dessert you get from a dim sum restaurant. So I was quite pleased when he said that my Steamed Tofu With Stir-Fried Minced Pork tasted better than he expected (Clarification: It was the tofu he was wary of… not my cooking ok!).

Ingredients (Serves 3):

For Steamed Tofu In Shallot Oil only:
- 1 pc silken tofu
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3 small shallots, sliced
- 1 tbsp spring onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp fried dried shrimp

Additional ingredients for my Steamed Tofu With Stir-Fried Minced Pork:
- 1/3 lb minced pork
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a few dashes of white pepper
- 1/2 tsp corn starch
- 1 red chilli, chopped

Seasoning:

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (to give a darker shade of color to the sauce)
- 1/2 chicken stock cube dissolved in 1/3 cup (about 100ml) water

Cooking Method:

For Steamed Tofu In Shallot Oil only:

1. Steam silken tofu at high heat for 5 minutes. Remove from steamer and drain away excess water.

2. Heat up oil, saute sliced shallots until fragrant. Pour shallots and oil over tofu.

3. Pour seasoning into a wok and bring to boil. Pour over tofu, sprinkle chopped spring onions, fried dried shrimp on top and serve.

For a variation of the above cooking method to give Steamed Tofu With Stir-Fried Minced Pork:

1. Marinate minced pork in salt, pepper and cornstarch. (Corn starch will give the pork a smoother texture.)

2. Steam silken tofu at high heat for 5 minutes. Remove from steamer and drain away excess water.

3. Heat up oil, saute sliced shallots until light brown. Add spring onions, fried dried shrimp, minced meat and red chilli and stir fry until fragrant.

4. Add in seasoning and mix well. Bring the mixture to a boil then pour over steamed tofu.

Silken tofu (bean curd) is such a delicate ingredient that sometimes I am afraid I will end up with mashed tofu instead of big pieces of tofu.

I am starting to grow to like tofu and will do my best to psycho my hubby to like it too (like maybe sneak some tofu under his favorite fried rice).

Tofu is a very good source of protein, specifically soy protein. Regular intake of soy protein is said to help lower total cholesterol levels by as much as 30%, lower LDL (the bad guys) levels by as much as 35-40%. And do you know that tofu also contains omega-3 fatty acids? In addition, tofu is a very good source of iron and copper, both minerals required to make red blood cells (hemoglobin).

Here’s an incomplete list of what a 4oz portion of tofu can give you as a percentage of the Daily Value requirements, based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Protein: 18.3%
Iron: 33.8%
Copper: 11%
Fats (in the form of beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids): 14.4%

I came across this Tofu And Fishballs In Black Bean Sauce Recipe from a recipe book called Hawkers’ Fare Simplified and adjusted the ingredient portion for 2 serving sizes. On the same day I made the Fried Chicken Wings, I decided that the oil did not look too overused, so I made use of the same oil (Oops, did I violate any cooking rules?) to deep fry the tofu and fishballs in this dish.

Note: Please don’t be too quick to judge and say that deep frying tofu cancels out all the benefits above. I use only oil with zero trans fats.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 8 fishballs (I used Dodo fishballs, thawed)
- 1 pc silken/soft tofu (cut into thick slices)
- oil for deep frying
- 1/2 tsp minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp salted (fermented) black bean (soaked and mashed)
- 1 red chilli (diced)
- 1 stalk spring onion (chopped)

Seasoning:

- 1 tsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 50ml water
- 1 tsp cornflour water for thickening

Cooking Method:

1. Heat up oil for deep frying. Using high heat, deep fry fishballs and tofu separately with high heat until golden brown. Dish and drain. Set aside.

2. Leaving 1 tbsp oil in wok, saute ginger, garlic, salted black beans and red chilli until fragrant.

3. Add in seasoning (except corn flour water), fishballs and stir well. Then thicken with corn flour water, stir well and pour over tofu.

4. Garnish with spring onions and serve. Best eaten with plan white rice.

Cook’s Tip:

The tofu was still silky soft and smooth after the deep frying. The tip is to use smoking hot oil so that the tofu will not absorb too much oil (resulting in soggy tofu).

Ever since I conquered my fear of the Giant Kailan with its humongous stems, I have been eating this green leafy vegetable more frequently.

Kailan is also known as Chinese Kale or Chinese Broccoli. As a dark green leafy vegetable, Kailan has a good source of many vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy, like vitamin A, vitamin C, folate and iron. It is also a great source of fiber. The general guideline is that the darker the leaves, the more nutrients the vegetable usually has.

On days that I want something quick and easy, I seek the help of canned food. I know canned food is not very healthy because sometimes they contain too much salt and preservatives, so I eat them sparingly.

I opened up a can of Fried Dace With Olives and made two dishes with it. The first being Fried Dace With Kailan and the second being Fried Dace With Olive Fried Rice, which I will post subsequently.

Ingredients for Fried Dace With Kailan (Serves 2):

- 1 bunch of Kailan (grab with your hand)
- 1/2 can of Fried Dace (since I had a can of Fried Dace With Olives, I separated the Fried Dace from the olives for use in this stir fry and used 1/2 the amount of Fried Dace available.)
- 1/2 tsp garlic
- 2-3 tbsp water

Preparation and Cooking Method:

1. Wash Kailan and lightly scrape the layer of skin from the Kailan stems. Cut off thick Kailan stems (for use in subsequent Fried Rice recipe), use only the leafy portion for this dish. Cut leaves into 2 inch lengths.

2. Break up the Fried Dace into smaller pieces.

3. Heat up oil in a wok. When oil is hot enough, add garlic and stir fry till fragrant then add fried dace and stir fry for 1-2 mins.

4. Add Kailan and mix well. Add water if the dish looks dry.

5. Plate and serve with plain white rice.

Cook’s Notes:

I got the Stir Fried Kailan with Fried Dace idea from Babe In The City KL. Her fried dace came with salted black beans, mine came with black olives. I’ve tried the Fried Dace With Salted Black Beans before. It’s just as yummy.

I’ve been wanting to eat this for a long time. The crunchiness of the bean sprouts and the flavor from the salted fish makes this dish a good accompaniment to a meat dish and plain white rice.

Have you noticed that this Bean Sprouts With Salted Fish dish is overpriced in restaurants? A plate costs about US$6.95 or was it US$7.95?!? A packet of bean sprouts from the supermarket costs less than a dollar and the salted mackerel fish (咸鱼) I bought (US$3+) could last me through many times over! (I can cook fried rice with that too :))

The shelf life of bean sprouts isn’t very long - at most one week. It is best to consume the whole packet within 2-3 days of purchase. With some planning, I added the bean sprouts to my Mee Rebus for one meal and cooked the rest the next day.

Here is my recipe for Bean Sprouts With Salted Fish And A Lot Of “Extras”. You can just do with garlic, salted fish and green onions only, if you do not have the “extras”. It’ll taste just as good.

Ingredients:

- 1 big plateful of mung bean sprouts (you can choose to remove the roots or just leave it)
- 1 tsp garlic (minced)
- 1 tbsp salted mackerel fish (咸鱼) (cut into small pieces and pre-fried)
- 1 tbsp dried sole fish (扁鱼) (cut into small pieces and pre-fried)
- 1 tbsp dried mini anchovies (pre-fried)
- 1 red chilli (sliced)
- 1 stalk green onions (cut into 2″ lengths)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2-3 tbsp water (optional. Used only if the bean sprouts appear too dry during the stir frying)

Cooking Method:

1. Heat up 2 tbsp oil in a wok. When oil is hot enough, add garlic, salted fish, dried sole fish, dried mini anchovies, sliced red chilli and stir fry until fragrant.

2. Add mung bean sprouts, green onions and oyster sauce and mix well. Stir fry for about 3 minutes or until bean sprouts soften a little (depend on the crunchiness level you want. I like mine crunchy.)

3. Add some water if the dish looks too dry. Mix well and serve.

Cook’s notes:

- The salted mackerel fish was something I prepared earlier - cut into small pieces and stir fried with oil. Remember to properly ventilate the kitchen and living area when you stir-fry the salted mackerel fish. A can of Lysol air freshener will come in handy too! :)

- The dried sole fish was something I brought back from Singapore. It had been cut into small pieces and pre-fried.

- All these pre-fried ingredients, I keep in the freezer for ease of use in future.

Stir-fried Bean Sprouts With Salted Fish - It’s definitely waaaay cheaper to cook this at home.