Cream of Mushroom Soup

We normally drink thin clear soups at home like chicken soup, tom yum soup, tofu soup, seaweed soup and so on. It is only when we patronise western restaurants that we drink thick soup like mushroom soup, lobster bisques or thick vegetable soups. Of the so many thick and creamy soups available, our favourites are the pumpkin soup (which I have already posted in my blog) and the mushroom soup.

When I first wanted to make the mushroom soup, I kept staring at the many types of mushrooms available in the supermarket. I managed to ask an English lady which type of mushrooms that she uses in her mushroom soup. She told me that she preferred the white button mushroom as she did not like the dull colour of the brown mushrooms. I searched the World Wide Web and found that a good mushroom soup will contain a variety of mushrooms to take advantage of the qualities of each.

 Ingredients:

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 big onion
• 500 g white button mushroom
• 300 g baby Portobello mushroom
• 25 g baby Portobello mushroom, optional (if you like to have bits of mushroom in your soup)
• 30 g butter
• 250 ml whipping cream
• 125 g wheat flour
• 250 ml water
• 1250 ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp black pepper

Method:

• Peel, wash and chop the garlic.

• Peel, wash and dice the onion.

• Wash the 500 g of white button and 300 g of baby Portobello mushrooms and slice them thinly.

• Wash and chop the 25 g of baby Portobello mushrooms.

• Melt butter in a pot. Swirl the butter so that the bottom of the pot is covered by the melted butter. 

• Add the garlic and saute it till fragrant.

• Add the onion and mushrooms (except the 25 g chopped mushrooms) into the pot. Stir until the onions are soft and the mushrooms are fragrant.

• Add the chicken stock. (If you do not have fresh chicken stock, you may use the cubed ones. Just take 1 - 1 1/2 cubes and add water to make up 1250 ml.) Stir to mix everything together. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes or more to bring out the flavour of the soup.

• Let the soup cool down before pouring it into the blender. (This is important. If you try to blend the soup while it is still very hot, it will splash all over the minute you switch on the blender.)

• Blend till the garlic, onion and mushrooms are fine.

• Pour the blended soup back into the pot and let it boil again. (Optional. Put the 25 g of chopped mushrooms into your soup. Boil the soup for another 10 to 15 minutes.)

• Add the whipping cream into the soup. Stir.

• Mix water with the all-purpose flour. Add the flour mixture, tablespoon by tablespoon, into the soup slowly until you reach a nice consistency i.e. not too thin nor too thick.

• Add black pepper into the soup and stir.

• Turn off the fire and serve hot with bread if you like.

Soy Sauce Prawns

Many of us have eaten lots of prawns throughout our lives. They form a good source of protein for us and they are low in fats and calories. However, not everyone can eat prawns as some are allergic to them. Two of my family members do not eat them, one of whom will have allergic reaction if he eats them and the other just do not like the prawn taste.

There are many ways of cooking prawns and one the easiest ways that I often do is to fry them and drizzle them with light soy sauce.

Ingredients:

• 5 to 6 pieces of large prawns (at least 4 to 5 inches in length)
• 2 inches ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• Cooking oil
• Seasonings - pepper, salt and light soy sauce

Method:

• Cut off the tip of the head of the prawns, the antenna and legs. Wash, de-vein and dry them with kitchen towel.

• Peel, wash and julienne the ginger.

• Peel and chop the garlic.

• Heat up some cooking oil in a wok.

• Fry the ginger till crispy. Remove and set aside.

• Add the garlic and saute them till fragrant.

• Add the prawns. Fry them till they are cooked. Do not over-fry them; over-frying will cause them to be hard and dry.

• Add some pepper and salt (not too much) to the prawns. Stir.

• Remove the prawns and arrange them on a serving plate.

• Add light soy sauce into the remaining hot oil.

• Stir and drizzle over the prawns and topped them with the crispy ginger.

Chop Suey

In the past, Chop Suey is made from leftovers after a big feast. However, nowadays many people will stew fresh pot of chicken and make fresh roast pork to cook them with freshly bought vegetables to make Chop Suey. The sweet, sour and salty taste of Chop Suey can really whet one's appetite and due to its taste it has become a favourite dish amongst many people.

Chop Suey is a versatile dish. We can add whatever vegetable (besides the green mustard) or ingredients (for e.g. dried oyster, different types of mushrooms besides the Shiitake mushroom and even canned baked beans) into it.


Ingredients:

• 2 kg mustard green
• 1 carrot
• 8 pc Shiitake mushrooms
• 20 dried chilies
• 1 big onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 500 g chicken
• 5 pc assam keping
• Cooking oil
• Seasonings - light and dark soy sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil.

Note:

• Chop Suey tastes good if some roast pork and stewed pork ribs are added to it.
• In addition to mustard green you may add napa cabbage and young corn.
• In addition to Shiitake mushroom you can also add button and enoki mushrooms.

Method:

• Wash, cut (into big pieces) and boil them. Note that this can be done 1 day in advance as this task is time-consuming given that lots of soil and worms can be found in the mustard green. (If adding napa cabbage, wash and cut it into 2-inch length. However, it need not be pre-boiled.)

• Peel and cut the carrot into wedges.

• Soak and cut the Shiitake mushroom. (If using button and enoki mushrooms, wash and cut the button mushroom into two. Wash and cut off the roots of the enoki mushrooms.)

• Soak the dried chilies.

• Wash and cut the onion into wedges.

• Chop the garlic.

• Heat up pot with cooking oil and sesame oil in a big pot.

• Saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the Shiitake mushroom. Saute till fragrant.

• Add the chicken. Fry till half-cooked.

• Season with light and dark soy sauce, pepper and salt.

• Add 3 litres of water.

• Stew the chicken. (If you are using roasted pork or stewed pork ribs, add in now.)

• Add the onion (for sweetness) and carrots into the stew.

• Add the dried chilies and assam keping.

• Once the chicken is cooked and soft, add the mustard green (and also napa cabbage), sweet corn (if you are using them) and button and enoki mushrooms.

• Add more seasonings (according to taste) once all the vegetables and mushrooms have been added.

• Add more water, if required.

• Let the Chop Suey boil for about 15 minutes.

• Turn off the fire and let the Chop Suey sit for about half an hour before serving it.  (It would be even better if it is longer.)

Steamed Chives and Carrot Balls

Eating both chives and carrots are beneficial to health according to Medical News Today as both are high in vitamins and antioxidants which can help to reduce the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Chives have an onion-like flavour and I like to sprinkle them raw on top of my Bihun Siam or make omelette with them or just add them into my Stir-fried Bean Sprouts. Likewise, I like to julienne carrots and add them to my Fried Bihun or my Stir-fried Bean Spouts besides cooking them with other vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli or juicing them.

My husband found the Steamed Chives and Carrot Balls recipe in one of the Chinese websites. These balls are easy to make and are tasty when eaten with the accompanying sauce.                                                                                                                                        


Ingredients:

• 100 g chives
• 100 g carrot
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp white pepper powder
• 3 tbsp corn flour
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 4 cloves garlic
• 5 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Wash and cut the chives into short (0.5 cm) pieces. Put them into a mixing bowl.

• Wash and peel the carrot. Chop it up into tiny pieces. Add them to the chives in the mixing bowl.

• Break 2 eggs into the bowl. Mix them up with the chives and carrot.

• Add the white pepper powder into the mixture. Stir to mix well.

• Add corn flour and all-purpose flour into the mixture. Mix well.

• Take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll them into a ball (bite size) using your palms. Add more corn flour if the mixture cannot be rolled into a ball.

• Grease a steaming plate with cooking oil.

• Place the ball onto the plate.

• Repeat until all the mixture has been rolled into balls.

• Heat up a steamer with water. Once the water has boiled, place the plate into the steamer and steam the balls at high heat for about 15-20 minutes.

• Remove once the balls are cooked.

• Prepare the sauce.
• Chop up the garlic and put them into a dipping dish.
• Add the light soy sauce to the garlic.
• Add the chili flakes to the garlic and soy sauce. Stir.

• You can either spoon the sauce onto the top of each chives carrot ball or you may serve the balls separately with the sauce in the dipping dish.

Dhall Curry

My husband loves the roti canai or roti pratha which is usually eaten with the dhal curry. However, the roti canai seller usually gives the curry sauce void of any vegetables. But my husband loves having lots of vegetable in his curry. He influenced me to learn to cook it as he considered it to be a non-spicy nutritious curry. And I have to put lots of vegetables in it. However, I do not use the vegetables normally used by the Indian restaurants. My cooking of the Dhal Curry is versatile; I add whatever vegetable that I like to the basic curry sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole lentils or dhal, washed and soaked overnight
• 6 cups water
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 1 big onion, diced
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 3 pieces star anise
• 3 pieces cinnamon sticks (3 inches each)
• 6 pieces dried chilies, soaked
• 1 piece ginger (2 inches), pounded
• 6 sprigs curry leaves
• 4 pieces kaffir lime leaves
• 3 pieces tamarind slices
• 1 brinjal (6 inches), quartered lengthwise and cut into smaller pieces
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 carrot, cubed
• 1 potato, cubed
• 1 red capsicum, cut into small squares
• 1 yellow capsicum, cut into small squares
• Cooking oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat up 3 tablespoons of oil in a pot.

• Saute garlic, shallots, onion, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, star anise, cinnamon sticks, dried chilies, ginger and curry leaves till fragrant.

• Pour water into the pot.

• Add dhal and the rest of the ingredients.

• Add salt (according to taste).

• Let the curry boil so that the dhal and other ingredients soften and turn mushy. (Stir often to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the base of the pot.)

• Serve with roti canai or rice.

Pumpkin Braised with Spring Onion

There is at least one or two pumpkins in my house everyday. I will either steam it, stir-fry it or make soup with it for our meals. However, there are other ways of eating pumpkin. It can be made into pumpkin kuih (just like yam kuih) for breakfast or tea time. It can also be made into pumpkin spread for bread.

One of my latest dishes is Pumpkin Braised with Spring Onion. It is a simple-to-cook dish and can be done in no time.

Ingredients:

• 300 g pumpkin
• 5 stalks of spring onion
• 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
• Light soy sauce
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Remove the pumpkin seeds and wash the skin thoroughly as we will be cooking the pumpkin with the skin on.

• Cut pumpkin into bite-size cubes.

• Wash the spring onions.

• Cut the spring onions into short pieces.

• Heat up a non-stick pan with cover with some cooking oil.

• Add 3/4 of the spring onion into the pan. Set aside the balance.

• When fragrant, add the cubed pumpkin.

• Stir-fry the pumpkin.

• Add the Chinese cooking wine and give the pumpkin a good stir.

• Cover the pan and stew the pumpkin slowly over very low heat.

• When the pumpkin is soft, season it with the light soy sauce (according to taste).

• Dish up the pumpkin and sprinkle the remaining spring onion on top.

• Serve with rice.

Brownies - the Chewy ones

Some like fudgy brownies while others like chewy ones. I prefer the chewy ones which I can snack on. I like my brownies to be plain. However, one can add nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips or even cream cheese to them. They can also be eaten with a dollop of ice cream on them.


Ingredients:

• 145 g butter
• 160 g sugar
• 65 g cocoa powder
• 70 g flour
• 2 eggs

Method:

• Put butter, sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl.

• Use a bain marie to melt the butter i.e. put the bowl containing the butter, sugar and cocoa powder over a pot of soft boiling water to slowly melt the butter.

• Once the butter has melted, stir so that the 3 ingredients are well mixed up.

• Set the bowl aside to let the mixture cool down.

• While waiting, grease and line a 7 inch by 7 inch square pan.

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Centigrade.

• When the mixture is cooled down, break the 2 eggs into the bowl. Stir to incorporate the eggs into the mixture.

• Sieve in the flour. Stir.

• Pour the mixture into the pan.

• Optional. You may sprinkle some chocolate chips or nuts onto the mixture.

• Bake the brownie batter for 30 minutes. 

• Take out the brownie from the oven.Test for doneness.

• Let the brownie cool down completely. Then put the brownie into the refrigerator.

• When the brownie is cold, cut and serve.

Bitter Gourd with Goji Berries and Egg

"Go healthy eating", said my husband. So here it is another healthy dish with little oil and no salt - Bitter Gourd with Goji Berries and Egg. Bittergourd and gojiberries with all their health benefits would appeal those looking for healthy food.


Ingredients:

• I bitter gourd, about 8 inches long
• A handful of goji berries
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic
• Cooking oil
• Light soy sauce

Method:

• Wash and cut bitter gourd into half lengthwise. Then slice each half thinly.

• Wash and soak goji berries.

• Chop the garlic.

• Heat up some oil in the wok and saute the garlic.

• Once the garlic is fragrant add the bitter gourd. Stir.

• Add the goji berries. Stir the bitter gourd and goji berries.

• Add some water.

• Break the egg into the wok. Do not stir until the egg has firmed up slightly.

• Then fry the bitter gourd till they are cooked.

• Add the soy sauce (according to taste).

• Dish up and serve.