A Korean Samgyetang Substitute

Having chicken in my stock finally and not just pork ribs FINALLY gave me the chance to make some ginseng chicken soup :) 

Boiled it for just half an hour and discovered that the soup turned milky, sort of reminded me of the korean samgyetang soup actually :D

At the side I have soup, but what filled me up for the night? A nice bowl of veggie couscous with cauliflower :) Of course with a few spoons of Korean chilli powder with Doenjjang thrown into it to give it more flavour :D

 

Lighting aint impressive  but at least the food does me justice. Simple yet filling. AND I've just got my Andrew James halogen oven yesterday. Can't wait to give it a go! I soOoOo wanna bake eggs again!

Til my next post, Happy eating and cooking!

Another Post about Pork Ribs..

 

I've been behind in my blog posts lately since test is near and I've got a ton of things to study and memorize before D-Day. I'd be more worried with it if it were essay questions, but since it's MCQs I'm rest assured it can't be as bad as I'd expect.

 So, here are some of the yummy dinners I've fixed and left to blog about. This one here I've steamed pork ribs in white wine and ginger with some wolfberries/ goji berries thrown in for extra finish and oomph~

 And I've got pumpkin porridge to accompany this home-reminiscent pork "cuisine" if I may call it. :D

 I'd say the pork is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. After finishing the meat on the ribs, I've kept the bones for soup the next day. Planning to make some chicken ginseng soup to revitalize myself and with these extra bones thrown in for extra taste and depth.

 Well, it's definitely autumn already seeing as how dark it was when it was JUST 6pm. That's early and yet it felt like it was already past 7pm.

Anyway, Happy cooking and eating bloggers/readers! :)

Only Two.

After last night, staying up til 12am to surprise my bestie which I usually do not do for JUST anyone. Really, I take my sleeping hours very seriously and they deserve top most priority. But since she's my ultimate darling here. I'll make her a special exception and brought everyone together for last night for a surprise :)

 So now for some cooking ME time. Wasn't in the mood to be thinking what to have since I only have TWO vegetables in my fridge. *ashamed* ONIONS and celery.

 Couldn't do much with those to make a fancy dinner. So I had my dehydrated kelp aside to make some seaweed soup with some black fungus as well. :) Yummy Yum Yum at a budget.

 As you can see, the food's straight from the kitchen and onto the podium for their "beauty shots"

Happy Eating everyone!

While Baking..Why Not Have Dinner

If only it was like any other day. But NoPe~ It was my bestie's Birthday! So obviously what MUST I do on birthdays which I dearly enjoy most but under normal circumstances should restrain myself due to electrical consumption average purposes. BAKE A CAKE~!

But before I get into that. I'll tackle the savoury bit first. While I was waiting for my cake to bake, I wasted no time to cook my dinner. 

 Ahh nothing fancy or attractive. Just some good old-fashioned glass noodles stirred up JapChae Style~ :) *Gangnam Style plays in the background*

 Almost couldn't wait for the cake to bake. So I had to keep my saliva busy from leaking all over x)

It was a good and contenting meal I had. NOW CAKE!!! *hands shaking from excitement*

 After plenty of considerations, I've made up my mind to make a lemon chiffon. BUT. halfway through the process of "about to whisk the egg whites" part. I just noticed my house didn't have the most basic and essential part of cake making. EGG BEATERS. Wonderful.

 So! Did I beat the egg whites stiff eventually? Proud to admit. YES! What did I use? Hahahaha~ Here's the catch! Chopsticks! Not a pair, but 3 chopsticks! It's much faster than a regular fork to be honest.

 And the outcome from my *literally..and I mean LITERALLY* hard work and labour of love. The cake did turn out nice and springy *though I'd think it's a bit overdone and left out too long that it became a bit dry once cut through* But that's just me being critical. My friends and especially my bestie Prista don't mind it at all.

 After decorating it with cream cheese on top with lemon slices :)

 Now we're just waiting to give the special lady her well-deserved surprise after her shift ended. Gosh! She's taking too long! Cake's getting dry! D:

Anyway, happy eating everyone!

Getting into the Fix

Here we go again. DINNER~! Always the same question, what to eat? If that's not the case then you definitely don't put much thought into your food. 

 For today, I've decided to incorporate eggs! Since no meat was defrosted earlier on, I'll have protein in the form of eggs for today. Typically my steamed egg with wine and spring onions. Heavenly tasteful just like it should be. The many wonders of white wine ;)

 And back to the starring of the day, simple but potent Ginseng pork rib essence soup. Seems like I'm falling into a pattern here for a few days already. Ah well, at least I did COOK. That's a given bonus already! :)

 The pork ribs in all its gratifying glory. Still hot from the stove :)

 So that pretty much sums up my dinner for the night. I know..where the carbs at? I was full already by the large bowl of soup and those ribs, PLUS the eggs. I'd say that substantial. Not glutinous full but contenting and heart-warming full.

 Such little ingredients, that can make such wonderful food :) Doesn't take just 5 star ingredients to make top-notch meals.

Happy eating and cooking everyone!

Just Three Ingredients

Tired of porridge and congee yet? I know I'm only partially sick of it. Not completely, but let's not go there ;) And best of all, I just needed 3 main ingredients: Carrots/Courgettes and Spring Onions :) I take pride in being thrifty don't I? *nods in self-agreement*

 Today's starring..Couscous with lots of carrots and courgettes topped with scallions to finish the sweet note. :) On the side, I've thinly sliced the courgettes again and blanched them with some carrots. Again..*bored yet? oddly enough I'm not :P*

 The chilli sauce and ginger definitely helped the dish appetizing and yummy :) So, today's dinner? Verdict is SUCCESS.

 Had a tiring long day of lectures despite being a Friday! :( Couldn't care less what I've put into my mouth really as long as they're something hot and spicy to warm me up in this COLD HOUSE! *damn central heating*

 Phew! Just in time for dinner at 6pm and..the sun hasn't gone down completely yet. Yay!

 The wonders of simple natural lighting, many credits to the sun! :)

Happy eating and cooking everyone!

Another Round of Congee Please

I know..From the looks of it, and as you readers flip through the posts throughout the week. My meals have been one porridge after another. I'm not sure why though, I've been having these recipe concoctions for PORRIDGE lately.

This time, I made porridge with carrots and scallions since I'm out of squash already and been having an itching for an orange-coloured porridge. Don't ask me why, it's just because..CRAVINGS they're a mystery.

 I like my wooden spoon :) Anyway back to the picture, as my side dish I've thinly sliced the courgettes and quickly blanched them. No seasoning what-so-ever. Hence the red drippings are..*drum rolls* Hot Chilli Sauce. (not much of a mystery) :/

 These shots without the flash on, looks really dim. Grr..But ah wellllll...I learn from my mistakes. No natural lighting since by the time I'm through cooking, it was dark :(

Despite the crappy lighting. Happy eating and cooking everyone~

When Squash Spells Gold

With the squash laid in the fridge like that, normally I'll make porridge with it since pumpkin porridge is one of my best food recipe EVER *thanks to the Koreans for their inspiration* I've been making these pumpkin porridge since my first year in college I think. Perhaps just one of the healthiest things I've first concocted.

 But, I didn't want to do the norm today. Instead I wanted to try out something new. Something I've not done before. And that's when I've decided to just split the pumpkin into half and instead of baking it, I steamed it. Just like how home would do :)

 

 And the end result was ever so priceless :) Pure gold! It turned out tasting like sweet potatoes but it's a squash. xD

 Had it paired with couscous! Very delicious.. But couscous needs more "on the dot" seasoning. That's why when eaten together with the pumpkin, it doesn't matter anyway. The pumpkin saved the couscous.

 Cheers to a wonderful attempt!

Happy eating and cooking everyone!

The Simplicity in Congee

So, what's in my menu for today? Hmmmmmm.. I've got pork ribs defrosted. Not gonna make soup again, afraid I'll be sick and tired of it!

 Hence, I've made this nutritious meal. PORRIDGE~ with plenty of celery for that fragrance and yummy factor. Also having a second attempt at steaming pumpkin. And this time PATIENCE~! *which means no peeping during steaming!*

 And finally the end result is SUCCESS. Patience is indeed a virtue, I have soft tender pumpkin flesh after that treacherous wait. But then again I kept myself occupied by tending to my porridge to make sure it's at perfect congee consistency.

 And..DINNER is served. I didn't even need to add much salt since I've earlier marinated the pork ribs with ginger and some salt to kill those EVIL BACTERIA. *not sure how effective it is but hey look! no food-poisoning*

 Happy eating and cooking everyone! :)

A Curry Medley

Today, thanks to my very good friend I'll be having a wonderful curry chicken meal. Since I couldn't say no to her in the afternoon, I've packed it reheat for dinner. Of course I've added some extra ingredients to make it more flavoursome by the time dinner sets in.

 So, I've decided to pile up on the onions and added some glass noodles in there. I didn't know I was out of meehoon (rice noodles)! Otherwise, this could go very well as curry noodles :)

  At the side, I've steamed some pumpkin (squash) slices. Just to try it out really.

 Almost burnt the poor chicken in the pot while I was simmering it in all the yummy juices!

 Well, this turned out looking better than expected :)

 A closer look into dinner perhaps? Absolutely grateful for the curry I got and every drip just oozed the word CURRY.

 Dinner time!

 Slurrp!! Verdict : Noodles and curry are the BOMB. But, the pumpkin slices should be left alone and steamed longer. Sigh, ate half of it and it was still a bit hard and raw. =.= Raw pumpkin for dinner as a side dish. "Yay" (the quote patience is VIRTUE rings a bell)
Happy eating everyone!