Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

The packet said: “Radish (Daikon) Rice Cake”. But I know it as Carrot Cake. And the Chinese words (not that I could read it) looked vaguely familiar.

Here’s a mathematical analysis:

Radish is also known as White Carrot or Chai Tow in Hokkien. Rice cake is known as ‘kway’ in Hokkien.

IF [radish => (white) carrot] AND [rice cake => kway]
THEN radish rice cake => carrot cake => chai tow kway!

God, I hate programming.

The authentic Chai Tow Kway is supposed to be in smaller pieces, and stir fried with radish and an egg. You can get it in the “black” or “white” form. “Black” because it is stir fried with dark soy sauce, and “white” because it is stir fried in light soy sauce. I was told that when you order Chai Tow Kway from a hawker center in Singapore, you must order from a stall whereby the cook is very energetic in his or her stir frying and makes a lot of noise as he or she hits the ladle against the wok, then the Chai Tow Kway will be more tasty!

Of course I cannot stir fry my Chai Tow Kway with the same vigor, or the whole stove and kitchen floor will be in a mess and I will be the one doing the cleaning ultimately. So what I did was to cut the block of Chai Tow Kway into cubes, stir fry them in a tablespoon of oil, or just enough oil to coat my frying pan. Since I am a meat person, I also bought some Char Siew (Roasted Pork) from Ranch 99 deli, and stir fried that together with my Chai Tow Kway. Nearer completion, that is when the Chai Tow Kway looked a bit crusty on their sides, I added soy sauce to taste and mixed well.

The Chai Tow Kway from Ranch 99 tasted quite authentic! I will give it a go again and stir fry it with radish and egg - the good old Singaporean way!

I did not have a chance to take many meal pictures when I was in Cancun because my small, cute Canon IXUS i’s battery failed me and I was shy about showing off a big, fat Canon 20D camera.

It was such a lazy holiday that we only ate out of the hotel only four times - Cambalache, a local Mexican restaurant, Burger King and a lunch buffet that was part of a day trip to the ruins.

I think my taste buds protested against Mexican breakfast. Eggs done sunny side up were placed over tortillas and that kind of made the tortilla soggy. I didn’t like the look of refried beans. And one thing about the hot and spicy nacho dips was that the hot sauce stung the tongue (hey, that rhymes) but there was no flavor whatsoever (hey that rhymes again!)

So I exchanged my Mexican breakfast for an American breakfast from you-know-who.

Then we proceeded to (pork) roast in the sun. It was very much like a process of roasting suckling pig. First you apply oil on the back, then after half an hour of roasting in the sun, you apply oil to front. You do this a few times after each turn so as to ensure that the skin does not burn. After slow cooking for about 2 hours under a morning sun, you get a nice brown on the skin.

I also had a taste of chicken pizza … oops I meant Chichen Itza in Cancun. This is an archaeological ruins site that is slated to become one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It was so hot I felt faint so I recommend anyone going there to bring along an umbrella.

A lunch buffet was part of the day trip. The Lime Soup was nice - tasted a bit like Chicken Tom Yum Soup, luckily I took the bowl without the tortilla strips or I would have gotten soggy tortilla. I wonder why would anyone like tortillas soaked in soup?

The only other nice dish was spaghetti with garlic sauce. Oh… that is non-Mexican.

So much for Mexican food and I. Guess I’d be sticking to just my Flat Fajitas or my Chinese home-cooked food for a while. :)

Hola Amigos! I am back from my Cancun, Mexico vacation and I need to rest. Life is good.

Cambalache is a highly recommended Argentinian Steak House and is a must-go if you venture to Cancun. It is in the located in the Hotel Zone Area, near Hard Rock Cafe.

The waiter presents to you the various types of steak in a tray, very much like what the famous Morton’s Steakhouse does.

However, at Cambalache, the average check is about half the price of what you pay in Morton’s. Both are pricey. Cambalache is less pricey. All items are served ala-carte, so if you order steak, you just get the steak.

The New York Steak served on a hot plate was really really juicy, and that bit of fat at the sides was so very tasty. Although we asked for a medium cooked steak it came a bit bloody, but that was fine. I ate only the cooked parts while my spouse devoured the rest.

The only grouch I had was their Lamb On Spit. Not knowing what a spit was, I mistook that dish for Lamb Chops, and it turned out to lamb slow cooked over a banked fire… tasted very much like Roasted Duck from the Ranch99 Deli! I should have known better than to order lamb in a steak house. Doh!

For sides, we had grilled sweet peppers which had been marinated in olive oil, vinegar, powdered red pepper, bay leaves, and a touch of garlic. That went very well with the juicy steak. Nachos and bread were complimentary. We loved the warm bread and their olive dip, and at the end of dinner, we were so full that we did not touch the nachos. Well, that’s because we also had their soup of the day right at the beginning while the waiter presented the steak variety.

Due to the fact that we did not have any food on our five-hour flight to Cancun, this meal was lunch and dinner in one. So if you divide US$100 by two people, by two meals, the damage was still manageable. We’d just have instant noodles for another meal.

Cambalache - Es una comida bueno - I think that means “It was a good meal, great taste, heart satisfying!”

This Thanksgiving, I am going to run away from all the turkey-related programs from Food Network. Turkey, pumpkin, turkey, pumpkin. Thank god for the long Thanksgiving weekend. I am preparing my tastebuds for Mexico!

What’s needed is a packet of McCormick Fajitas Seasoning, a packet Kraft Mexican Style Four-Cheese Mix (consisting of finely shredded reduced fat Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby and Mozzarella Cheeses with added calcium) and a packet of Mission White Corn Tortillas, beef strips, onion and peppers.

First season the pre-cut beef strips with salt, pepper, 2 tsp of McCormick Fajitas Seasoning and cornflour. (The cornflour is supposed to seal in the beef juice during the stir fry.) Slice up a quarter of a large white onion, (you can use yellow onion if you want to) and measure out 2 cups of pre-cut frozen red, yellow, green peppers.

When the oil in the wok is hot enough, stir fry the beef until their color changes. Set them aside and stir fry the onions and peppers.

When they are almost done, add the beef back to the wok and give them a good mix.

Lay out the tortillas on a plate and put some shredded cheese on top.

Then top that with the stir fried beef strips, peppers and onion mix.

Roll up the tortillas and place them on top of a grill. I used my George Foreman Grill, which is quite amazing because it heats up very quickly on both of the grill plates.

Because I needed to press down the grill plates to prevent the fajitas from unrolling, I ended up with FLAT FAJITAS.

The McCormick Fajitas Seasoning really gave the Fajitas a kick. Two thumbs up for that!

I find myself settling into autumn hibernation mode. Even my picture looks hazy, soft and lazy. My recipes are also getting easier and easier just so that I can quickly finish cooking, eat and go to sleep.

This is a simple dish my mom used to cook for me. You can stir fry some small strips of pork first then add the vegetables but I was too lazy. I used my secret ingredient.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried shrimp
- 1/2 small Taiwan cabbage, cut into strips
- 1/2 medium carrot, cut into strips
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- salt

Cooking Method:

1. Preheat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok. When oil is hot enough, stir fry garlic and dried shrimp until fragrant.

2. Add cabbage and carrot and mix well.

3. Add chicken or vegetable broth.

4. Cover wok with lid and allow vegetables to cook in its steam for a few minutes. They are ready when they look soft. Add salt to taste.

Cooking tips:

A couple of other ingredients can be added to this to add variety to this dish. Strips of lean pork, as mentioned above, or pre-soaked cellophane noodles. (I remember eating this variation at a popular late night Teochew Porridge stall in Beo Crescent, in Singapore)

You can also use oyster sauce instead of salt. Just be careful on the amount added (usually 1-2 tsp will be sufficient) as your broth will already contain salt. Always do a taste test until you are expert with the portions.