Looks simple enough?

It is... and you can have a lot of variations for the dish. You can use whatever noodles, vegetables or meat you like, and wa la... it's a whole new flavour. 

The most difficult part goes to making the dressing, a  small but crucial step in enhancing the taste of the soba. Mine turned out too watery and it didn't coat the noodles well... haha but nobody, except the cook herself could tell this is an area that needed improvement. Dear who tasted it loved it!

I actually got this recipe from the cooking lesson organized by Tangs. It's for their shoppers, and you need to spend over a certain amount, before you can sign up for it. I managed to go it for because I bought my KitchenAid there. Hmmm... but this will probably be my first and last time there. The things in the shop are beautiful, but all very very expensive for me!!

Recipe: (from Martin Yeo)

Ingredients

2 serving of soba noodles
1 pkt of salmon fillet
1/2 pkt of fresh mushroom (you can use any type that you like)
some pea sprout

* can also add in avocado, baby spinach leaves, asparagus and cherry tomatoes 

Dressing
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar / lemon / lime juice (u can mix the juice too)
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp finely grated peeled fresh ginger

Method

• Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. Set aside.

• Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in a medium pan. Sprinkle salmon with sea salt and pepper. Cook on low heat until browned but still deep pink in centre. Remove from pan.  *Chef Martin recommended using salmon fillet that has been skinned, but I was lazy and cooked the salmon with skin on. It is definitely better to take off the skin. Next time, I would also slice the salmon into smaller pieces. Mine was a bit thick. When the exterior was cooked, the interior of the fish still appeared a bit raw.

• Heat up more oil in the pan. Saute the mushroom until all the moisture has evaporated, and the pan is dry. At this point, the mushroom should be deep golden and reddish-brown. 

• Cook soba noodles in a pot of boiling water, until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain and transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Pour dressing over, and toss to coat. Top noodles with rest of the ingredients.

Useful tip picked up: If noodles appear to have dried up, simply add a bit of grapeseed oil, before tossing in the sauce. Trust me! It works. I use the same idea for my spaghetti too :)

this was cooked by chef.. see how well the noodles are coated... 

I think society is changing. As women move out from the home to the workforce, less women are cooking now. I can understand why... for after coming back from a hard day at work, who still have the energy to cook, and not forgetting the many things to wash up after that?

But my mum is different, and so are many women of her generation. I have many relatives - like my 姑姑 and 姨婆 who still cooks for their family, though they both hold a full-time job. I think women of that generation are very resilient, and amazing!

I've always focused my energy on baking, and after putting off the thought of cooking dinner for a few days... I finally took out my cook book. After all, I have a little hope to improve my culinary skills too =P

I chose one of my favourite dish - stewed meat.  Before I got married, and was staying with my family, they cook this dish very often. It is something that my grandmother would still cook for me when I go home for dinner now.

Mine is a healthier version - using chicken wings and cabbage.

Recipe: (adapted from 小小米桶的零油煙廚房)

Ingredients:
12 chicken wings / mid-joints
1 cabbage, cut into 6 portions
2 slices of ginger
3 clove of garlic
Parsley  (for garnishing)

Seasoning:
50ml of soy sauce
50ml of shaoxing wine / rice wine
2 star anise
1 tsp of rock sugar
250ml of water

Method
Boil a pot of water. Put the cabbage in, and cook till the exterior have softened, approx 10mins. Take out the cabbage, and pat dry to remove excess water.

Put the chicken wings into the hot water, and cook for a few minutes to remove dirt. Take it out, and wash under cold water. Set aside.

In a big pot, put in the chicken wings, cabbage, ginger, garlic, and the seasoning. Cover the lid and let the food simmer in a low heat for 20 mins.

Serve the chicken and cabbage in a bowl. Ladle over the gravy, and garnish with parsley.

For me, I just scoop everything over my rice. Yum Yum!

I love mushrooms, and when I saw this recipe from Piggy's Cooking Journal, I have to give it a try!

The original recipe called for mirin, but after trying to get some from Shop N Save, followed by a walk to NTUC, I just couldn't find it. I even tried putting my hands all the way into the back of the display shell, and still... there wasn't any. Arghh... why didn't they replenish their stock?

Anyway, I went ahead to cook the dish.. and here's my own version of Mushroom Rice, using whatever ingredients I have on hand :)

Ingredients
Cooked rice for 2
250g of mushrooms (i used enoki and shitake mushroom), cut into small pieces
20g butter
5 cloves of garlic, diced

Seasoning
1 tbsp of creme fraiche (can replace with sour cream/ cooking cream)
2 tbsp of white cooking wine

Method

• Heat up the wok / frying pan. Add in butter. Stir-fry the garlic till fragrant.
• Add in all the mushrooms, and cook till soft. *It may appear a bit dry, but as the mushroom cooks, it will release water.
• Add in the white cooking wine. Let it cook for 30 seconds, before adding in the creme fraiche. Mix everything together.
• Lastly, turn off the heat, and add in the cooked rice. Mix well, and serve!

The rice has a earthly-mushroomly taste, which dear and I love. I also like adding wine to mushrooms, as it will give the dish a sweet aroma.

The simple meal for two, was paired with watercress soup. Very healthy too!

It's soup-y stuff again! When I was looking through my cookbook, realized I was trying to avoid choosing those recipes on cream-based soup. I just can't make myself to make one yet - finds it too sinful =P

Here's the recipe: (adapted from Eric Teo's Simply Soup)

Ingredients:

50g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

2 celery, diced

100g of cabbage, chopped

2 zucchini, diced

2 potatoes, diced

3 tomatoes, diced

3 tbsp of tomato puree / tomato paste

1.5 litres of chicken stock

Method:

1. Heat up a large pot. Add in olive oil and butter. Saute all the vegetables, except tomatoes till soft.
2. Add in the tomato paste and tomatoes; stir till well-mixed.
3. Pour in the chicken stock, and bring it to boil. Let it simmer for about 30 mins or until the vegetables are tender

One thing great about the soup is that you can adjust the amount of vegetables and quantity to your liking. If you like carrots, by all means, add more :)

The past 2 days have been an emotional roller-coaster ride... Thankfully, the storm has passed and stability has returned to my life. I'm so glad to have baking in my life, for it offers some refuge and peace to my troubled mind.

Yesterday, I conducted my 2nd baking session with the youths. The turn-out was good, with 6 youths attending. However, all things else didn't go well. Of the 3 chiffon cakes we were trying to make, the one (which I demonstrated) was over-baked, while the students had a lot of problems following the steps. Was I being over-ambitious? Yes... I think I did. The chiffon technique is too difficult for them, at this stage. Plus there were group dynamics I had to handle, such as students not paying attention while I was talking, and another girl simply appeared un-interested. 

 

Nonetheless, there were many learning points I could bring up through the process, and I can only hope to do better for the next session. 

I was also planning to cook dinner for my dear, but that was postponed till today, as I needed time to adjust my mood after the baking session. It was fun to visit my neighbourhood wet-market to get the ingredients. Fortunately, at where I lived, it was cheaper to shop there than from the supermarket. Haha... I'm motivated to go back often, and try to make friends with the stall owners :)

Here's what I cooked, to go with porridge.

I wasn't very satisfied with the sauce for the chicken dish, but my dear said it was nice. Arh.. that was the sweetest word for the day, warming through my heart, and making all the effort I put in worth-it. Shall hold on to this, and have sweet dreams tonight!

We were at Soup Spoon for dinner yesterday when my dear asked when would I be cooking some soup for him. He's a person who likes variety in his food i.e. he gets 'sick' of eating the same food for consecutive days. But he exclaimed that if it is a soup dish, he wouldn't mind eating it for 3 days.

Thus, I made this soup today - Old-Fashioned Cabbage Soup. We paired the soup with bread roll, which I heated up before serving. Haha.. doesn't this remind you of Soup Spoon too? 

nice shot by dear (whom is a better photographer than me)

wholesome goodness

soup with lovely bread roll

Here's the recipe: (modified from Eric Teo's Simply Soup)

Ingredients

400g cabbage, rough-cut

1 onion, chopped 

1 pkt of asparagus, broken into smaller pcs

2 litres chicken stock

salt & black pepper (to taste)

100g ham

3 big potatoes, cubed

40g butter

50g sausage, sliced

Method

1) Saute onion with the butter till it becomes translucent. 

2) Add in cabbage, and continue to cook, cover for another 10 mins. The cabbage

    should be wilted.  

3) Pour in the chicken stock, add ham, potatoes to it. Bring it to the boil, let it

    simmer for 15 mins before adding in the asparagus. Continue to let soup

    simmer for another 10 mins to cook the asparagus, or until tender. Season to

    taste. 

4) Before the soup is done, add in the sliced sausages (to heat it up). Serve hot 

    with bread roll.

After-thoughts:

- I use canned chicken stock (which has salt added). In the end, I didn't add in

  the sausage cos I found the soup salty enough, at the end of the cooking time. 

  I guess the ham also added to the 'tastiness' of the soup. If you would like to 

  have sausage, one suggestion could be to reduce the amt of ham used, For a 

  healthier alternative, you can make your own chicken broth.

- I made the mistake of adding in the asparagus together with the potatoes. By 

  the time soup is ready, it has lost its 'green-ness'. It still tastes good - soft but 

  I suspect I over-cooked it. We don't really need a long time to cook it, therefore

  in the recipe above, I thought it's better we add it in towards end of cooking 

  time.

Hope the above tips help :)

Last Saturday, my dear brought me to "Movies in the Park".

It was organized by Class 95, and they were screening Despicable Me, and Iron Man 2. I must say the sound systems were awesome - felt like I'm in the cinema, except under the stars this time :)

My best friend was supposed to join us, but unfortunately she fell ill. Nevertheless, dear and I had fun, and after watching Iron Man 2, we went on to watch Captain America the next day. The stories are linked.. Haha... realize I love Marvel Heroes!

Anyway, to prepare for the picnic, I made a quiche. I was very happy to chance upon this recipe that doesn't require a crust (err.. cos I don't know how to make one. Previously, I've been using a frozen pie crust from Cold Storage, but I can't find it anymore >-<)

Tada.. this is how it looks like

all ready for the oven

doesn't the color look lovely?

it's super filling!

Here's the recipe: (taken from Min's Blog)

Ingredients

60g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

2 cups of milk

75g butter, melted (i reduce it to 65g)

210g salmon

1 green capsicum
1 onion
1 potato
1/2 cup of cheese (i use parmesan)
1 tomato, cut into rings
black pepper

Method
Pre-preparation before putting together the quiche
* Pan-fry the salmon till the skin is browned. This will give it a wonderful aroma.
   Let it cool awhile before breaking it up into small pieces using a folk.
* All the vegetables are to be diced. Using the same pan to cook the salmon,
   stir-fry the vegetables till it is softened.

1) Sift the flour and baking powder together. Set aside.

2) In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Mix everything

    together, and add in the flour (split into 2 parts - to prevent clumps )

3) Place all the ingredients (salmon and vegetables) into a 9" pan. Pour the
    milk mixture into the pan.

4) Top off with parmesan cheese, followed by the sliced tomatoes and black

    pepper. Bake at 180 degree celsius for 55 mins.