Stir-fried Mani Cai with Egg

Mani cai or sayur manis in Bahasa Malaya or sweet leaf is a popular vegetable in our country. I usually cook it in soup with ikan bilis (anchovies). This particular soup forms the base for pan mee which is a popular Chinese handmade flat noodle. I have never stir fry mani cai until recently when I discovered it in a Thai restaurant. Since then I have cooked it many times.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 400 g mani cai (just the leaves)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Cooking oil

Instructions:

• Pluck the leaves from the stems and wash them thoroughly.

• Add cooking oil to a pan and scramble the egg. Scoop up and set it aside when done.

• Add cooking oil to the pan. Add the garlic and saute them till they are crispy. Scoop out about 70% and set them aside.

• Add the mani cai to the pan and stir-fry till they are cooked.

• Season with salt and pepper.

• Return the scrambled egg to the pan. Mix them up with the mani cai.

• Ladle up onto a serving plate.

• Sprinkle the garlic crisp on top.

• Serve.

Steamed Tofu on Egg with Fish or Shrimp

On most days I have tofu, eggs, fish and prawns in my refrigerator. I just have to get creative and make delicious dishes out of them. One of such dishes is steamed tofu on egg with slices of fish or shrimps on it. I was able to savour three different tastes in one bite - taste of the egg, tofu and fish/prawn. I had added fried garlic on the fish version. For the prawn version, the coriander made the dish very aromatic. Besides fried garlic, we can sprinkle green onions, fried shallots, parsley or coriander on top of the dishes.

Ingredients:

• 2 tube of egg tofu or plain tofu
• Fish slices or shrimps, the number depending on the number of tofu cylinders.
• For marinating fish slices or prawns:
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 egg and 1.5 times of water
• For seasoning the egg:
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil for greasing the plate for steaming
• Topping
• fried onions, or 
• chopped parsley, or
• chopped coriander, or
• chopped green onions or
• fried shallots, or
• bird's eye chili

Instructions:

• Fillet the fish (snapper, grouper or threadfin) and slice it thinly or peel and de-vein the shrimps. (I left the tail on the shrimps.)

• Marinate the fish or shrimps with soy sauce, salt, pepper and sesame oil for at least 30 minutes.

• Beat egg into a bowl. Add water and seasonings. Sieve.

• Grease a steaming plate with sesame oil.

• Arrange the tofu cylinders on the plate.

• Slowly pour the egg onto the plate of tofu.

• Arrange the fish slices or shrimps on top of the tofu.

• Boil water in the steamer.

• Once the water has boiled, transfer the plate to the steamer.

• Steam the tofu with fish slices/shrimps over low heat (we want a silky egg layer).

• Remove the plate from the steamer once the fish/shrimps and egg are cooked. (Should not take more than 5 minutes. Otherwise the fish/shrimps will be overcooked.)

• Sprinkle the following on top:
• fried onions, or 
• chopped parsley, or
• chopped coriander, or
• chopped green onions or
• fried shallots, or
• bird's eye chili.

• Drizzle some soy sauce on top if the dish is not salty enough.

• Serve with rice.

Steamed Egg with Po Choy

Steamed Egg with Po Choy is a simple dish which can be cooked speedily. Preparation takes a short while most of the time is spent on waiting for the egg to be steamed. But more important is that this dish is tasty and will surely appeal to most people. 

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 100 g - 120 g po choy
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic
• sesame oil for greasing the glass baking dish
• glass baking dish 18 cm x 12 cm

Instructions:

• Wash the po choy and cut them into 6 cm length.

• Boil a pot of water and blanch them for about 7 minutes.

• Scoop them out with a stainless steel food strainer and let the water runs through the strainer.

• When the po choy has cooled down, use your hands to squeeze out more water from them. Set the po choy aside.

• Beat the eggs and add the seasonings.

• Grease the baking dish with sesame oil.

• Pour the eggs into the baking dish and add the po choy to it.

• Put the baking dish into the steamer and steam the eggs for about 10 minutes over high heat or until they are cooked.

• While waiting, mince the garlic and sauté them till they are golden brown. Set them aside.

• Once the eggs are cooked, remove the baking dish from the steamer. Let the eggs cool down.

• Overturn the steamed eggs onto a flat plate.

• Sprinkle the sautéd garlic onto the steamed eggs. Slice them up or cut them into diamond shape and serve.

Tofu Omelette

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As we know an omelette is a dish made from eggs. The fillings that can be included are up to our imagination - chives, potato long beans, spinach, onion, prawns, etc. One day I ran out of idea of what to cook and finding a piece of tofu in my refrigerator I decided to try making tofu omelette. It turned out to be so delicious that I have cooked it a couple of times, the first time with just chilli padi and the second with coriander and chilli padi. I will try to add other fillings later.

Ingredients:

• 1 piece of tofu
• 1 egg
• 1 piece chilli padi
• 1 small sprig coriander or green onion (only green part)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Instruction:

• Half the tofu horizontally and slice the tofu into 4 mm thickness or just slice the tofu into 4 mm thickness. Set aside.

• Cut the chilli padi into small pieces and roughly mince them.

• Cut the coriander and mince it. (Or, cut the green onion into small pieces.)

• Crack the egg into a bowl and beat it with the salt, soy sauce and pepper.

• Add the chilli padi and coriander (or green onion).

• Add the tofu to the bowl of egg and coat all pieces with the beaten egg.

• Heat up a frying pan with cooking oil.

• Use a spoon to scoop the tofu, piece by piece, into the pan. Arrange the tofu anyhow you like.

• When the bottom is cooked, turn over the omelette and cook the other side.

• Once the omelette is done, slide it from the pan to a serving plate.

• You may decorate it with some coriander or green onion on top of the omelette.

Claypot Tofu with Tomatoes and Mushrooms

Sequence of Cooking:

I have seen this dish being cooked on Instagram and Facebook. Looking at the ingredients, I was sure that the dish would be appreciated by my husband and children. True enough, all of them love it. It is also suitable for vegetarians.

Although no measurement is given, the dish looks easy enough to cook. Since then I had cooked this dish a few times to try out with different quantities of the various ingredients. The recipe below is the result of these trials.

Ingredients:

• 400 g tomatoes, cubed
• 1 packet enoki mushroom (2 would have been better), remove ends
• 4 pcs of large brown button mushroom, sliced
• 1 box of tofu, cut into pcs
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tbsp black vinegar
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Cornflour slurry (2 tbsp cornflour + 4 tbsp water)
• Garnishing - green onion

Method:

• Add cooking oil to claypot. Let it heat up.

• Add tomatoes to the claypot. Fry.

• Add salt.

• Add water. Let boil.

• Add enoki mushroom to 1 side and button mushroom to the other. Add tofu either on top of the mushrooms or to one side next to the mushrooms.

• Beat egg and add it to the claypot.

• Add pepper, black vinegar and sesame oil. (Dont hv to stir.)

• Thicken the sauce with corn flour slurry and garnish the tofu with tomatoes and mushrooms with green onion.

• Serve hot with white rice.

Spinach Egg Roll

Spinach Egg Roll is a very delicious dish. Stir-fried spinach by itself tastes very good and if enclosed in eggs will taste even better. It is simple to be cooked up especially when most of us would definitely have this vegetable and eggs in our refrigerator. Most of the time when I stir-fry spinach, I would remove some to be made into spinach egg roll.

Ingredients:

• 150 g spinach
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Some cooking oil

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• Some cooking oil

Method:

• Heat up some cooking oil in a wok.
• Sauce the garlic till fragrant.
• Add the spinach.
• Season it with salt, light soy sauce and pepper.
• Dish up when cooked.
• Let the spinach cool down.
• Drain it so that it is dry.
• Use a pair of kitchen scissors or knife to cut it into small pieces.
• Set aside.

• Separate egg white from the yolk.
• Add seasonings of salt, pepper and light soy sauce to the yolk.
• Brush some cooking oil onto a non-stick pan.
• Lightly beat the egg white and pour it into the non-stick pan.
• Swirl the pan so that the egg white covers the pan evenly.
• Wait for the egg white to cook slightly.
• Spread the cooked spinach onto one side of the egg white.
• Using a spatula, roll up the egg white to cover the spinach, pulling the egg white to the edge of the pan as you roll it up and leaving a space for the egg yolk.
• Pour the egg yolk into that space to join up with the egg white.
• Wait for the egg yolk to cook and then continue to roll it up from where we stopped.
• Remove the roll from the pan.
• Slice it up and serve.

Minced Pork over Steamed Egg and Tofu

 

We have steamed egg and steamed tofu. We also have braised minced pork. Why not combine them together to create a new dish. I am sure your family members will love this dish; mine do. The steps are simple and the whole process does not take long. The ingredients are easily available.

Ingredients:

For steamed egg:

• 2 eggs
• water, equivalent to the same amount of the eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp pepper, or more
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 piece of tofu (can use 1 piece if you love tofu)

For the minced meat

• 150 g minced pork
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce, or more for a darker braise 
• 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

• Prepare a steamer of boiling water.

• Crack 2 eggs into a bowl.

• Add the equivalent amount of water to the eggs.

• Add salt, light soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil.

• Beat the eggs till all the ingredients are incorporated.

• Cube the tofu and add them into the eggs.

• Steam the eggs for 15 minutes or till they are cooked.

• Add oil to a pot.

• Add chopped the garlic to the pot and saute them till they are fragrant.

• Add the minced pork and fry them.

• Add dark and light soy sauces, salt and pepper.

• Add water.

• Braise the pork till they are cooked and the sauce has been reduced by a fair bit.

• Remove the steamed egg from the steamer.

• Scoop the braised minced meat on top of the steamed egg.

• Serve.

Bitter Gourd Bihun with Fish Fillet

 

 

I experimented with this new dish - Bitter Gourd Bihun with Fish Fillet - which was described to me by my better half. He had seen it on Tik Tok. The final result met his approval. If you like bitter gourd, then this dish is for you. I ate it and it was really delicious. I will definitely be cooking it again and again.

Ingredients:

• 100 g bihun (before soaking)
• 6-inch long bitter gourd
• 2-inch long carrot
• 1 small onion
• 1 egg
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper powder
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• Cooking oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method:

• Soak bihun till it is soft.

• Half the bitter gourd lengthwise, remove the seeds and slice thinly across.

• Julienne the carrot.

• Slice the onions in rings.

• Slice the fish fillet into small pieces. Fish - either garoupa, red snapper or white snapper.

• Heat up kuali with some oil.

• Fry the egg, break it up, dish up and set aside.

• Add some oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.

• Add the carrot, onion and bitter gourd.

• Fry till they have softened.

• Add the fish and fry till they are half-cooked.

• Add water.

• Then add the seasonings.

• Once the sauce has boiled, add the bihun.

• Fry till the bihun is cooked.

• Add the fried egg to the bihun. Stir.

• Dish up and sprinkle some coriander on top. (Can use spring onion too.)

Fragrant Fried Garlic Rice

I love garlic; usually for my breakfast I will spread my bread with butter, sprinkle chopped garlic and grated Mozzarella cheese on it before toasting the bread. I also use a lot of garlic in my daily cooking. And one of the dishes that I use lots of garlic is Fried Garlic Rice. My husband will eat raw chopped garlic with his meals at times. This is because through our readings we believe that garlic contains compounds with potent medicinal properties.

Ingredients:

• 300 g cooked rice (for 2 pax)
• 1 garlic bulb
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 egg
• Cooking oil
• 1 stalk green onion, chopped
• 1 bird eye chili, chopped

Method:

• Chop up garlic into fine pieces.

• Heat up wok with cooking oil.

• Add the chopped garlic to the oil.

• Saute till it is slightly darker than golden brown so that it is very fragrant. Take care not to burn the garlic.

• Once it has turned brown remove all of it from the wok without the oil.

• Remove the oil from the work leaving 2 tablespoons behind.

• Add the cooked rice to the wok and fry.

• Add the seasonings of salt, pepper and light soy sauce to the rice.

• Add the sauteed garlic to the rice.

• Fry the rice till it is very fragrant.

• Push the rice outwards, leaving a hole in the centre.

• Break the egg into it.

• Slowly stir the rice over it and fry till the egg sticks to the rice.

• Once the egg is cooked, the rice is ready to be served.

• Sprinkle chopped spring onion and chili on it.

• Serve.

Cheesey Sardines and Potato Bread Rolls

 

 

 

I have created Cheesey Sardine Potato Bread Rolls for breakfast for my children. However, these bread rolls can be made for teatime as well. Most households would have some cans of sardines and potato in their pantry and so can easily make them at any time. As for cheese, it is really optional.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bread - white or wholemeal
• 270 g mashed potatoes
• 100 g canned sardines
• 25 g green onions
• 2-3 pc chili padi (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 6 pcs of Mozzarella cheese of about 1.5 inch long
• 1 egg, beaten
• Cooking oil for frying

Method:

• Remove the crust from the 4 sides of each slice of bread. Roll each slice of bread thinly. Set aside.

• Add mashed potatoes to a mixing bowl.

• Remove bones of canned sardines. Add them to the mixing bowl.

• Cut the green onions finely and add them to the mixing bowl.

• Cut the chili padi into small pieces and add them to the mixing bowl.

• Add the seasonings.

• Mix up all the ingredients well.

• Spread the ingredients onto each slice of bread.

• Place a piece of cheese across each slice of bread.

• Roll up the slice of bread and seal the seam.

• Repeat till all the slices have been rolled up.

• Heat up a pan with cooking oil.

• Roll the bread roll in the beaten egg using a fork.

• Transfer the bread rolls to the pan and deep fry them till they are golden brown.

• When done, remove them onto a piece of kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil.

• Transfer them to a serving plate.