Family FECS: Come Cook with Our Little FECS

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Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup 日本拉麺

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1. 2 portions of ramen
2. 150g pork belly sliced in strips
3. 1 inch ginger grated
4. 2 cloves of garlic minced
5. 2 shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly
6. 2 king oyster mushrooms sliced thinly
7. 50g or 1 bunch of enoki mushrooms loosened
8. 50g or a handful of bean sprouts (optional)
9. 2 leaves of xiao bai cai (optional)
10. 2 tiger prawns
11. 2 eggs (荷包蛋 he bao dan)
12. 1 TBS sasame oil.
13. 1 TBS spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang)
14. 1 TBS sake (optional)
15. 1 TBS Mentsuyu
16. 1 TBS Japanese rice vinegar
17. 1 tsp. miso paste
18. 1 tsp. soya sauce
19. 1 litre of water or homemade stock
20. 1 stalk spring onions chopped for garnish (optional)
21. A handful of Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (optional)
22. 1 tsp. Chiu Chow Chilli oil (optional)

Directions:
1. Meanwhile, fry eggs, drain away excess oil and set aside.
2. Heat wok with sesame oil over medium high heat, add garlic and ginger and fry until golden.
3. Add spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang), stir and mix well.
4. Add the meat and fry until cooked.
5. Add the shiitake, king oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms and fry until cooked.
6. Add sake, Mentsuyu and water and bring to a boil for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
7. Add 1 litre water/stock. It will sizzle. for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
8. Add add miso paste, soy sauce and Japanese rice vinegar.
9. Add tiger prawns, remove from broth when it is cooked (it turns red) and set aside.
10. Add bean sprouts and xiao bai cai, cook for 30 seconds, remove from broth and set aside.
11. Concurrently, boil a separate pot of water and cook noodles according to package instructions, drain and portion into 2 large bowls.
12. Add toppings i.e. 1 prawn, 1 egg, mushrooms and vegetables (beansprouts and xiaobaicai) into each bowl.
13. Pour in the hot broth into the bowls.
14. Garnish with spring onions and bonito flakes and serve hot :-)
15. If you like it extra spicy, add chilli oil into your noodle soup

Additional Information:
Actually Ramen is a Chinese dish introduced by the Chinese immigrants in Japan. It means 拉麺 (la mian) in Chinese. It is also called 大碗面 (big bowl noodle) in Chinese. But it has become known to be a Japanese dish known as Japanese Ramen. We tried this for the first time today. It's wonderful to have a bowl of hot Ramen noodle soup during the cold and wet autumn.

I reduce the meat from 250g to 150g, because I think it is too much meat. I added more vegetables to the noodle soup, because I love vegetables and it is healthier. I also increase the water/stock, because I love soup.

References:
http://www.justonecookbook.com/tsukemen-dipping-noodles/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

Main ingredients

Seasonings

You can buy pork belly from Netto for 69 DKK for 1.2 kg.

Prepare the eggs. I like mine done like 荷包蛋 Chinese Pocket Egg.

Heat wok with sesame oil over medium high heat

Add garlic.

Add ginger and fry until golden.

Add spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang).

Stir and mix well.

Add the meat.

Fry until cooked.

Add the shiitake mushrooms.

Add the king oyster mushrooms.

Break loose, add the enoki mushrooms and fry until cooked (very fast).

5. Add 1 TBS sake (optional, I didn't add it here) and 1 TBS Mentsuyu.

Add 1 litre of water. It will sizzle.

or add homemade stock. Since I have some left-over stock today, I use a mixture of water and stock. Don't worry, if you don't have stock. As the bean paste is very savory, this dish will still taste good, even if it is not made from stock.

Bring to a boil for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

Add 1 tsp. soy sauce.

Add 1 tsp. miso paste.

Add 1 TBS Japanese rice vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes under low heat.

Add tiger prawns, remove from soup when it is cooked (it turns red) and set aside.

Add bean sprouts.

Add xiao bai cai, cook for 30 seconds or until just done, quickly remove from soup and set aside. Don't overcook the vegetables.

You can add in the noodles at this time into the soup, especially if you are using fresh noodles, and cook for 1 minutes or until the noodles are done.

You can while making the soup, boil a separate pot of water concurrently for the noodles. If I have the time, I prefer to cook the noodles separately to remove any wax or preservatives that come with packet noodles.

When water boils, cook noodles.

Once noodles is cooked, drain and divide portions into two serving bowls.

Add toppings of egg, prawns and vegetables.

Pour in the hot soup and garnish with spring onions and bonito flakes. Serve hot :-)

If you like it extra spicy, add 1-2 tsp of chilli oil into your soup.

Our Little FECS (6Y7M6D) enjoying his bowl of Japanese Ramen :-)

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Chinese Stir-Fry Vegetable - Caixin

From my mum, May Loh's recipe

Serves 3

Preparation & Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. 800g caixin
2. 1 clove garlic minced
3. 3 oyster mushrooms cut in strips (optional)
4. 1 TBS oyster sauce (optional)
5. Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat canola cooking oil on wok, add garlic and fry until golden.
2. Add mushrooms and fry until golden.
3. Add caixin and quickly stir-fry for a short while until it is no longer raw and well mixed.
4. Add salt & pepper to taste.
5. Add oyster sauce and mix well.
6. Dish up and serve immediately with rice. Do not overcook, otherwise it will not be crunchy.

Additional Information:
This is a 家常便饭 - a classic dish my mum used to serve for dinner during my childhood. Typically in her 3-course dinner, which consists of a vegetable, meat and soup served with rice, the vegetable would be caixin. Caixin is a Chinese green-leaf vegetable readily available in Singapore. It used to be very cheap, but a very nutritious green vegetables.

Although without much education, my mum is very good with food and nutrition. She continued to teach herself to read after primary school and she would be reading and gaining knowledge from reading the Chinese newspaper. Even though we were poor, my mum was very good in picking out those food that are nutritious and yet cheap, like this vegetables. While the rich Chinese kids in Singapore were having Chinese tonics such as ginseng, goji berries, bird nest, black chicken soup, we gained our nutrition from these humble vegetables which are packed with nutrition and cooked freshly daily by my mum. All of us three children grew up well, I think a large part was due to my mum always making fresh, nutritious, healthy and tasty food everyday.

Even then, I didn't always appreciate it as a child. I used to be very fussy and picky about food. Like most children, I disliked green leafy vegetables. As I was cooking this dish with J, I could literally hear my mum telling me, "Ah girl, this is very good for you, lots of vitamins and very nutritious. You should learn to eat it."

As I grew up, I fell in love eating this dish. Moving away from home to Copenhagen, this is one of the dishes that I miss most

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6.

This was true with me with regards to this dish. The healthy eating habits I have today, I have picked it up from my mother, although I didn't appreciate so much as a child.

It is available from the "Chinatown" here, costing 20 DKK per packet, which was 10 times more expensive than Singapore when I first moved to Denmark 14 years ago. It was such a delicacy for me to eat this in Copenhagen, but no longer so over the years. This is because, over the years, the price has come down over the years in Chinatown, while it is getting more expensive in Singapore.

I made this dish with J today. I am passing down the baton to J, for him to know his heritage. I am recording this dish for the future generations of our family.

This post is also tribute to my mother. To be able to manage a small household budget and yet to take care of the nutrition of your family is not easy, but she did such an amazing job.