Category Archives: Cooking

Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs and Dates Soup Recipe

This Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs and Dates Soup is a hot favorite with my family. Bitter gourd has many health benefits. It contains a mixture of flavonoids and alkaloids which stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin that controls the blood sugar levels in diabetics. If you are a diabetic, then bitter gourd soup is good for you.

Bitter Gourd and Dates Soup

You will need one bitter gourd, 5 large red dates, 5 large dried oysters and spare ribs. You can use chicken if you want to. It’s easy to prepare. Rub spareribs with some salt and set aside. Cut the bitter gourd into half, and scoop the spongy insides out with a spoon. Wash it and cut into bite size pieces. Cut the dates and remove the stones. Wash the salt from the spare ribs and blanch with hot water. I do this to remove the “porky” taste from it. Final step, put everything into the crockpot and put on high for a few hours.

Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs and Dates Soup

And this is how the Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs and Dates Soup looks like when served. The soups is clear, not cloudy. The bitter gourd is soft and not bitter at all. The dates and dried oysters add sweetness to the soup. Smells heavenly too. Go on. Make this for dinner tomorrow, ya. Hope you like my Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs and Dates Soup recipe.

Stewed Pork Spareribs With Radish And Beancurd

I dont have much time to cook today. My mother-in-law told me she bought some pork spareribs (the soft bones type) this morning. About 600gm or so. I also found a large radish in the vegetables section of the fridge, and a packet of beancurd too.

At first, i thought of making soup with the radish and spareribs flavored with some dried oysters and red dates. But i know how much hubby loves beancurds and decided to make stew instead. It’s way faster and i only need to cook ONE dish, lol.

With my mother-in-law’s help, i put everything into the crockpot in no time. First, rub the pork ribs with salt and leave for about ten minutes or so. Remove the skin and seeds from the radish and cut into small pieces. Next, chop up some garlic and peel and onion or two. As for the beancurd, i did not cut them up.

Wash the salt from the pork ribs and blanch them in hot water to remove the “porky” smell and taste. Place all ingredients into the crockpot and add just enough water to cover the top of everything. Next add soya sauce and some oyster sauce to it. I added a dash of black pepper into the pot before i closed the lid.

I put the crockpot on high. It’ll be ready in a few hours. Since i cooked it before i left the house this afternoon, it’s ready by the time i reached home at around 4pm. I gave some to my kid when he came home from school and he loved it. Hubby had no complaints. I love it too.

I find that it tastes better if you add a dash of soya sauce to it when you eat it. Best taken with a bowl of hot rice. I am downloading Moonlight Resonance Episode 29 now and will be enjoying it with a hot bowl of this delicious Stewed Pork Spareribs With Radish And Beancurd. Moonlight Resonance is quite interesting, you know. You all following this TVB Drama Series?

How To Make Greentea Ice-cream

It’s a beautiful day and my mood isnt as screwed as it was a few days back. I was pretty down but decided to let things pass. Moreover, Malcolm wasnt feeling well and he’s so clingy till i cant really do much with him around. As usual, i left him with hubby yesterday since he doesnt want his Mama. To make him happy, hubby gave him the remainder of the ice-cream we bought from Cold Storage on our last trip there.

It’s all gone and hubby reminded me to go get more. He was surprised when i told him i’ll make some Greentea Ice-cream today after lunch. And so, after our meal, he drove me to Wah Seng, Ipoh’s largest baking supplies store to buy all the ingredients needed for my Greentea Ice-cream recipe. See, my mood must be really good till i want to make Greentea Ice-cream, lol. Something i’ve NOT done before!!!!

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

So, here’s what i bought. Caster Sugar, non-dairy whipping cream and greentea powder from the baking store. Fresh Milk from the grocery store as the baking store doesnt have any, weird. Eggs came from the kitchen, haha. Ingredients for Greentea Ice-cream cost came to Rm23.40 + Eggs at Rm1.08 = Rm24.48. Not that bad after all.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

Ingredients for Greentea Ice-cream Recipe from bottom left to right clockwise:

130g fresh milk
70g caster sugar
2 tbsp greentea powder
250g non-dairy whipping cream
3 egg yolks

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

Since i dont have an egg whisk, i used my Philips Cucina handheld mixer to do the job for me.

Method:

1) Mix egg yolk and caster together thoroughly. Add in the greentea powder and mix well.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

2) Add fresh milk to the mixture and mix it well.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

3) Double-boil mixture at low heat until it thickens. Just keep stirring and stirring slowly, k. See the froth. Wouldnt have turned out like this if i’ve used an egg whisk.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

4) I then poured the Greentea mixture into a bowl and left it to cool on the kitchen table. The froth disappeared on its own when i went to check on it later on.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

5) Pour the non-dairy whipping cream into a separate container.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

6) And whisk it till it’s stiff.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

7) Pour the cooled Greentea mixture into the non-dairy whipping cream.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

8) Mix it well.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

9) Transfer the Greentea ice-cream mixture into a container/containers.

How to make Greentea Ice-cream

10) Freeze overnight. Yields around 800ml of homemade Greentea Ice-cream.

So now that i’ve shown you how to make Greentea Ice-cream, why not make some for yourself, your kids, your hubby, your boyfriend/girlfriend, neighbor lol. I still have a lot of greentea-ice-cream ingredients left inside the fridge. If this homemade Greentea Ice-cream recipe turns out well (IT WILL, IT WILL, IT WILL), i’ll make more in different tastes!!!!

Alce Nero organic spinach spaghetti with minced pork

It’s a wonderful Saturday. After sandwiches, i remembered the packet of Alce Nero organic spinach spaghetti i bought the other day. Gordon was standing at the kitchen entrance and i took the packet of spaghetti out of the fridge and asked him if he wanted “Meen-meen” (noodles in Cantonese) or not. He smiled; that’s a yes.

Marinating minced pork

As i was closing the fridge door, i saw a packet of minced pork on the top shelf. I seldom cook meat anyway, but what the heck. Just in the mood to make something different this time. And pray to God at the same time Gordon wont give me that look and say “Mm-moii”; meaning “Dont want” in Cantonese, lol.

Really nothing fancy here. Ingredients used for the minced pork is Lea &Perrins Worchestershire sauce, Kikkoman Soysauce, sugar and pepper. My MIL doesnt really like Lea & Perrins Worchestershire sauce, but i love it. Do you? I let it marinade for a short while whilst waiting for the spaghetti to boil. Takes 15 minutes anyway.

Fried Minced Pork

Then, fried the marinated minced pork with just a teeny bit of organic olive oil using my Maxim 12cm egg frying pan till fragrant. Wonderful wonderful smell, mmmmmmm.

Bowl of organic spinach spaghetti

As for the pasta sauce, i’m still using Prego Pasta Sauce, my all-time favorite. There’s not much Prego sauce left anyway. Will buy some Alce Nero organic pasta sauce later on.  And here’s the bowl of Alce Nero organic spinach spaghetti with minced pork. Lovely color, wonderful texture, excellent taste. Verdict? Gone in under 10 minute, lol. Try it.

Ibumie Har Mee

In a way, i love instant noodles simply because they fill my stomach whenever i’m hungry. I do buy instant noodles once in a while. This Ibumie Har Mee caught my attention when i was out the other day.

Ibumie Har Mee 1

Looks good, eh. Well, we wont know until we try them for ourselves.

Ibumie Har Mee 2

What a wonderful sight. Eh… do you know i had a really hard time waiting for the right moment to snap this. The vapor keeps blurring my lens, lol.

Ibumie Har Mee 3

Here are the contents of the thick soy sauce, palm oil and fried onion bits.

Egg in 12cm egg frying pan 1

I’m sure you’ve been waiting to see how my Maxim 12cm egg frying pan performs, right…..

Egg in 12cm egg frying pan 2

I did not add any oil to the egg frying pan. So far so good. What a wonderful sight. I love eggs, do you?

Ibumie Har Mee 4

Here’s how the Ibumie Har Mee with egg looks like. I sprinkled the packet of chilli powder that came with it over the egg. The taste? PERFECT!!!!