Chinese Recipes | Cooking Tips | Good Eats

Generous pieces of fried fish in a steaming hot bowl of fish soup with thick white noodles, garnished with parsley, scallions and shallots; served with a small dish of light soy sauce with cut chilli padi… how does that sound to you?

This stall has been one of the longest survivor in China Square Food Court (Cecil Street). New stalls sprout and then close down, but this one is definitely one that will stay! As the name indicates, this stall is formerly located at Blanco Court (near Bugis) but that hawker center was demolished almost ten years ago (if I remember correctly) and is now replaced by Raffles Hospital.

It’s important that the stall preserves the name of its former Blanco Court location because people know what to expect with this brand name! Hawkers also have their own form of marketing, eh. I wonder if they go through any marketing courses or the art of business, marketing and making good food is all in their blood?

The queue at the Blanco Court Fried Fish Soup stall is perpetually long. To avoid the queue, you need to be there at about 11:30am to beat the lunch time crowd.

This is a continuation of My Singapore Food Cravings series. Previously, there were:

1. Sam Lo
2. Sardine Curry Puff
3. Hai Tien Lo Extravaganza
4. Kway Chap
5. Mixed Pig Organ Porridge

Eat and live well!

A few days ago, a reader by the name of Delia tried my Leek and Tofu recipe and commented that it “…came out very nice” and was “… nice to have a change from the usual leek with prawns recipe.” :) Thanks Delia!

Because of her encouragement, I looked for another recipe with leeks and found another easy recipe which is simply delicious.

Now, the problem I faced in this recipe was which type of fish to use? I am not an expert in buying fish. I usually buy salmon fillets or pomfrets only. It happened that the other day at the supermarket, I saw this “auntie” (customer) with an amiable disposition buying some fish. She looked like she knew what she was buying, so I decided to approach her for some fish advice and I asked her what fish is good for pan-frying?

She cordially said that she herself bought a live tilapia fish ($3.99 per pound) and the reason she bought a tilapia fish is because their bones are longer, so it’s easier for kids to handle. Arrr… easier for kids - just what I wanted! I’ve got one big kid at home currently.

I got the fishmonger to kill, clean and scale the live tilapia fish for me. Actually the fish wasn’t quite dead even after the cleaning and scaling. When I was at the cashiers, the poor thing flipped its tail a bit. That gave me a scare!

Anyways, here is the easy Chinese recipe for my Fish With Leeks And Fermented Soy Beans:

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1 tilapia fish
- 1 stalk green onions (cut into 2″ lengths)
- 4-5 slices ginger
- 1 stalk leeks (use 2 stalks if you love leeks) (cut the white part into slices on the bias)
- 1/4 lb minced pork (the non-lean type)
- 1 tbsp fermented soy beans
- 1/2 bowl warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 red chillies (remove seeds and cut into slices)
- corn starch water

Seasoning for pork and tilapia:
- salt, white pepper, corn starch

Cooking Method:

1. Season minced pork with a sprinkle of salt, a couple dashes of white pepper and a sprinkle of corn starch. Mix well.

2. Do the same for the tilapia. Sprinkle salt, white pepper and corn starch on the inside (stomach) and outside (skin) and gently rub the seasoning onto the tilapia. Insert 2-3 slices of ginger and a few pieces of spring onions into the stomach of the tilapia.

3. Heat up 3-4 tbsp oil in a wok. Pan fry fish until both sides become golden brown or cooked. Dish out and set aside.

4. In the same wok, add the remaining green onions and ginger. Add the minced pork and stir fry until fragrant before adding the leeks. Fry over high heat until fragrant, then add the fermented soy beans and mix well.

5. Add in the tilapia and half a bowl of water and cook over low heat for about 10 mins. (Cover wok so that the gravy won’t evaporate.)

6. Add sugar and chilli slices and mix well. Slowly add corn starch solution and stir well until desired gravy thickness.

7. Serve the Fish With Leeks And Fermented Soy Beans with plain white rice and remember to drizzle the flavorful gravy over the rice. Enjoy!

This wanton was made using a shrimp dumpling wrapper (水饺皮). That was what the packaging said. Shrimp dumpling wrappers are thicker than wanton wrappers.

My wanton looks like a shrimp dumpling (水饺), but yet because there is no shrimp inside, I call it a “wanton”. Next time I will make a wanton that looks like a real wanton ok?

I usually associate wantons with char siew and wanton noodles (叉烧云吞面) but I did not have any char siew with me. Then I remembered that mom sometimes ate her wantons in its “dry form”, with just a bit of sambal belachan mixed with light soy sauce and this can be a meal by itself… well… at least for myself, it can.

Here’s how to make wantons that look like shrimp dumplings:

Ingredients (Serves 3):
(Makes about 24 wantons.)

- 1/2 lb minced pork
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a few dashes white pepper
- 1/2 tsp cornflour
- 1 stalk spring onions (chopped)
- 1 tbsp dried sole fish (crushed into small pieces)
- 24 round wanton / shrimp dumpling “wrappers”
- a small dish of water
- 1/2 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 4 cups warm water

Preparation and Cooking Method:

1. Mix minced pork with salt, white pepper, corn flour and spring onions.

2. Lay wrapper on plate. Add a few small pieces of dried sole. Use two teaspoons to scoop up some minced pork and put on the wrapper.

3. Use a finger to dab some water onto the whole circumference of the wrapper. As you fold the wrapper, squeeze out as much air as possible from the meat filling. Set aside.

4. Bring the saucepan of chicken stock solution to a boil. Gently drop each wanton into the chicken stock. Cook the wantons in batches of 5-6 (or depending on the size of your saucepan) so that the chicken stock can be maintained at boiling temperature.

5. Wantons are cooked when the wrapper skin becomes wrinkled - after about 3 minutes or so. Dish out and serve.

Cook’s Notes:

1. Don’t choose the leanest minced pork because then the meat will be tough. You can mix lean minced pork with some fatty minced pork if you wish.

2. You can add some chopped water chestnuts to give your wantons a crunchy texture.

I learnt to make this Nutritional Fish Soup from my mom and made it some time ago after coming back from Singapore. This soup is so tasty and delicious! I can eat it with plain white rice or just add some DoDo fishballs to leftovers and make it a one-bowl fish soup meal.

There are two ways to prepare the fish, depending on how proficient you are at filleting the fish.

Mom’s preferred method is to fillet the fish. She likes to cook the minced pork with the fish bones first, then when she is about to eat the fish, she would boil the fish fillet for about 10 minutes to cook it. She said that cooking the fish fillet for a short while would give you more tender fish meat.

The first time I fillet the fish, I couldn’t cut out much meat (must be the knife!) - a lot still got stuck to the bones. So for the second time, I just put the whole fish into the soup to boil. I was worried that boiling the whole fish for too long would toughen the meat… fortunately it didn’t.

J enjoys this a lot and his eyes would brighten up whenever I say I want to make fish soup.

Ingredients (Serves 2-3):

- 1 pomfret (washed and cleaned)
- 1/2 lb minced pork
- salt, pepper, corn starch (for seasoning and marinating fish and pork)
- 1 stalk spring onions (cut on the bias into 2″ lengths)
- 4 slices ginger
- a few stalks of cilantro
- 3 dried mushrooms (optional) (soaked in warm water to remove smell)
- 1 tsp dried shrimp
- 1 tsp dried scallops
- 1 tsp dried sole fish
- 8 cups warm water

Cooking Method:

1. Marinate minced pork with 1/2 tsp salt, a few dashes of white pepper and 1/2 tsp corn flour.

2. Same for the fish, sprinkle fish with 1/2 tsp salt, a few dashes of white pepper and 1/2 tsp corn flour. Rub seasoning on the fish skin and inside the fish stomach too.

3. Scoop minced pork into balls and add minced pork and the rest of the ingredients to the warm water. Bring to a boil, then add in fish. Lower heat to a simmer and allow to cook for about 20 mins.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook’s Notes:

1. After trying 2 methods of cooking the fish (i.e. filleting the fish first versus cooking the whole fish), I chose the latter as it’s easier for me. Besides, after the whole fish is cooked, it’s easier to remove bigger pieces of meat.

2. When seasoning the fish, you can also choose to insert a few pieces of spring onions and ginger slices into the stomach of the fish, but I think this is unnecessary as they will fall out when you boil the fish anyways.

3. You can still make this soup even if you only have dried shrimp or dried scallops or dried sole fish. They are flavor enhancers. Of course adding ALL THREE of them will give your soup more OOMPH!

4. The mushrooms did not have much taste after the cooking. Maybe all the flavor went to the soup.

5. This Nutritional Fish Soup is so so tasty and easy to make too! If you have leftovers, do not throw away the fish bones. Boiling that again makes the soup even more tasty!

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.