Popiah

It's a dish that has such a great variety of condiments which makes one yearn for more. In fact, the more, the merrier! I can't make so many condiments over here-as I want to get most of the ingredients from the local store without going to the Asian shop, so I make do with about 5-7 items. I can't get 'sengkuang' here so I substitute with white radish and carrots. I miss Rom's popiahs. They were really lip-smacking! Oh! and my munchkins love the popiah skins. They said: Yummy!!! >_<

Ingredients

Main condiment

2 large-sized white radish-cut into strips

2 medium-sized carrots-shredded

5 cloves of minced garlic

2 pcs of dried cuttlefish-cut into strips

3 tbsps oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp salt

1 pack of Popiah Skin from TYJ/Spring Home Spring Roll Pastry 

Side Condiments

4 eggs for fried omelette-cut into strips

100g fried French beans- in small bits 

2 Chinese Sausage - in small bits and fried briefly

1 medium-sized cucumber-cut into thin strips

1 medium-sized carrots-cut into thin strips

200g of blanched small prawns

Optional

Blanched beansprouts

Fried beancurd

Fried peanuts

Fried onions

Chilli sauce for dipping ( I like the Tean's Gourmet Crispy Prawn Chilli)

Hoi Sin sauce for dipping

Method

1. Heat up some oil in a thick bottom pot and fry garlic till fragrant. 
2. Add in dried cuttlefish and salt. Fry briefly.
3. Add in carrots and fry briefly.
4. Add in radish, oyster sauce and dark soya sauce.
5. Stir occassionally and let the ingredients cook at low heat for about 30mins.
6. Set aside and cook the rest of the side condiments.
7. Scoop the main condiment into a siever and drain it on top of a bowl.
8. Start with chilli sauce and hoi sin sauce as the base on the popiah skin.
9. Add other condiments as you wish. 
10. Fold in the sides of the popiah and roll it up. 
11. Voila and start munching!

Garlic and dried cuttlefish 

Carrots and white radish

Side condiments

Main condiment

Gather all your condiments

My hubby's way of wrapping the popiah ;)

My way ;)

Pan-fried Pork Chops with Tzatziki Dip

Not in the mood to cook anything fancy over the weekend. I call it the lazy bug. Some pan-fried pork chops, homemade tzatziki dip, bulgur and some vegetables were in for a dinner plate. Nobody complained, so guess that was acceptable. ;)

Ingredients

Tzatziki Dip

300 ml of natural yoghurt 

2 cloves of minced/crushed garlic

2 tbsps of olive oil

a pinch of salt and pepper

Half a cucumber (shredded)

Bulgur

Cooking directions as stated in the package

Vegetables

Blanch the desired vegetables

Pork Chops

Few slices of pork chops

2 tbsps oil

1 meat stock cube 

1 tsp salt

3 tbsps honey

Method

1. Make tzatziki dip as directed in the pictures.
2. Crush n dissolve cube with oil, salt and honey in a bowl. 
3. Mix well till combined.
4. Marinate mixture with slices of pork chops for at least 3 hours or overnight.
5. Pan fried each slice of pork chop till cooked. About 3 mins on each side.  This depends on the thickness of your meat.
6. Prepare others as accordingly.
7. Enjoy!

Strain yoghurt for a couple of hours (till it's dry)

Mix crushed/minced garlic, pepper, salt, olive oil and yoghurt

Add in shredded cucumber and mix well

Voila!

Salmon Curry

Ingredients

Ta-dah!

It has been quite a while since I last cooked fish curry. I have not tried other fish over here, except salmon and I think it's not too bad. I can't be too choosy over here. ;) This dish comes with great appetite since the weather has been rather cold and wet out there lately. Spicy and full of flavours. Hmmmm....so satisfying!

Ingredients
400 g of salmon (marinated with some salt)
Half a head of white cabbage (sliced)
1 aubergine (sliced)
100g sugar snaps
100g french beans
1 medium-sized onion (sliced thinly)
12 cherry tomatoes (or other types)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a handful of curry leaves
3 cloves of minced garlic
300-500ml of water
3 packs X 25g Baba's fish curry powder (or any curry powder that you can get from Asian shops)
lemon juice and salt to taste

Method

1. Heat up some oil in the pan and fry cumin and fennel seeds till fragrant.
2. Add in garlic and onion, fry till cooked.
3. Add in all vegetables, fish curry powder and fry for about 8-10 mins.
4. Add water and simmer at medium high heat for 10 mins.
5. Add salmon, lemon juice and salt to taste. Continue to simmer for about 10 mins and turn off heat. Leave the pan on stove till heat is switched off completely.
6. Serve warm with rice, couscous, bulgur or bread. 

Minced Beef Soup

A long afternoon at school today. We got home later than usual and had to make a quick dinner since all of us were hungry. About 30 minutes and ta-dah! A plate of soup; jam-packed with all the vitamins and minerals for our growling tummies. Topped with slices of baguette, smacked with butter. Voila!

Ingredients
1 bunch of celery-sliced
5 medium potatoes-cubed
1 medium carrot-cubed
1 small red onion-cubed
1 can of chickpeas
200g of minced beef
2 litres of beef stock soup/ 3 beef stock cubes
splashes of salt, sage and oregano

Method

1. Boil 2 litres of water with 3 beef stock cubes or 2 litres of beef stock soup
2. Fry onions with a knob of butter till slightly browned. Put into the stock soup.
3. Add celery, potatoes, carrots and boil together with onions and let it boil at medium high heat for about 15-18 minutes. 
4. In the meanwhile, fry minced beef till browned. Add splashes of salt, sage and oregano to taste.
5. Add beef and chickpeas into the soup and continue boiling for another 5-8 minutes.
6. Switch off heat and simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve warm with bread or any other side dishes.