Cookbook Recipes

Ingredients:

4 racks of American-style pork spare ribs 1.5kg

Honey marinade:
1\4 cup (90g) honey
1\2 cup (125g) Kecap Manis
2 tsp sesame oil
2 star anise
3 cm fresh ginger grated finely
1 clove garlic crushed

Method:

Make honey marinade by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour 2\3 of the marinade into a large shallow dish or large resealable bag. Add pork spare ribs and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 150C.

Drain ribs from marinade, discard marinade. Line 2 baking dishes with foil to prevent the honey mixture from burning onto baking dishes. Place wire racks in each dish. Place pork ribs in a single layer on the racks. Roast uncovered about 45 mins, turning halfway through and brush it with the remaining 1\3 marinade until well browned and cooked.

Cut racks into individual ribs before serving.

Serves 6.

This meatloaf is yummy. In Singapore, it can be hard to find minced veal so you can simply use minced pork. Fresh sage is also hard to get so I substitute it with 1 tsp of dry rosemary or thyme. The jelly glaze for this recipe is very important as it add sweetness to the loaf and also improve the look of the dish. Try it and your family will love it!

Ingredient:

2 tsp olive oil
1 small brown onion 80g, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 trimmed celery stalk 100g chopped finely
1 medium green apple grated coarsely
500g por and veal mince mixture
1 cup (70g) stale breadcrumbs
1 tbsp fresh sage chopped coarsely
1 egg lightly beaten
10 thin streaky bacon rashers
1 small green apple cored and sliced thinly
2 tbsp apple or redcurrant jelly
Method:

Heat oil and fry onion, garlic and celery. Cook, stirring until onion is soft. Add grated apple and cook until mixture becomes dry.

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Combine onion mixture, mince, breadcrumbs, sage and egg in a large bowl. Mix well.

Transfer mince mixture onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Use wrap to roll mixture into a 8cm x 24cm log. Discard wrap. Wrap bacon around log, alternating extra apple slices with bacon.

Place meatloaf onto an oiled oven tray. Brush all over with half the warmed jelly. Roast, uncovered, in moderate oven about 45 mins, brushing with the remaining jelly halfway through cooking. Meatloaf should be cooked through and bacon browned and crisp. Serve with mustard.

Serves 4

This recipe looks difficult due to the long list of ingredients. But once you manage to get all the ingredients, the recipe is very easy to cook and worth cooking too. I tried buying ready made green curry sauce but none is as authentic and nice as home made ones like this. On top of that, the paste can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can make more paste and keep them in portions in the freezer and then use it whenever you need it!
Ingredients:

Curry paste *This quantity is for 2 portion of green curry. Half is to be stored in freezer for next use.
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
1 tsp coriander seed, toasted
1/4 tsp white peppercorns
5 fresh coriander roots
3 tbsp chopped fresh galangal
10 fresh long green chillies, chopped
1 stem lemon grass, chopped
6 red Asian shallots, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp shrimp paste
1 tsp grated kaffir lime rind
2 tbsp peanut oil

1 cup (250g) thick coconut cream
500 g chicken fillets sliced
2 cups water
125 g snake beans cut into 2 cm lenghts
150g broccoli cut into small florets
1 tbsp palm sugar
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
5 tbsp fresh corriander leaves

Method:

Place cumin seed, coriander seed and peppercorn in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind into fine powder. Blend in a food processer with the remaining paste ingredients and add 1/2 tsp salt until smooth.

Place coconut cream, water, chicken , half of the above curry paste, and boil and simmer for about 5 mins. Then add broccoli and snake beans and simmer for another 5 mins or until chicken and vegetables are cooked. Add fish sauce, palm sugar, coriander leaves. Best served with steamed rice.

This dish is healthy and at the same time tasty. The flavour comes mainly from the mixed herbs so be sure to be very generous with the herbs and also the sweetness of the tomatoes and vegetables.
Ingredients:

500g beef shin cut into cubes
1 large brown onion (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (chopped)

2 large carrots cut into cubes

2 potatoes cut into cubes

5 large tomatoes (blanched, skin and seeds removed and cut into quarters)
1 cup mixed vegetables

3 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup of red wine

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp Mixed herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary)

5 cups water

salt and pepper

Method:

Marinate beef in oyster sauce, worcestershire sauce, herbs, salt pepper and cornstarch and set aside for at least 30 mins.
Heat oil and fry onion and garlics until soft and fragrant.

Add beef shin and fry until brown. Add red wine and fry until a little dry. Add water, carrots and mixed vegetables. Boil and simmer in low heat for about 1 1\2 hours. Be sure to add water if it is too dry. Add tomatoes and potaotes and boil for another 20 mins or until potato is soft. Add salt and pepper to taste and more cornstarch if you want the stew to be thicker.

This is an ideal dish if you have young toddlers. The adult and the child will love the dish.

Ingredients:

Fillings:

300g minced beef

2tbsp tomato sauce

2 tbsp barbecue sauce or Lea and Perrins sauce

1\4 tsp salt or pepper

2 tsp oil

2tsp soya sauce

50 g frozen peas

100g finely chopped onions

Topping (mix well):

5 Large potatoes

4 tbsp fresh milk

50g butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C

Marinate beef with tomato and babecue sauces. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside for 30 mins.

Heat some oil and stir fry onion until soft and fragrant.

Add beef and mix well for abt 30 secs.

Add peas and continue stir frying for a min until mixture is a little dry. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Spread beef mixture in a baking dish and top
with potato mixture. Bake for 10-15 mins.

This dish is very simple to make. When I am very busy and need to cook a nice meal, I will do this dish. It is thai but resembles our local char kway tiao.

Ingredients:

500g kway tiao or rice noodles

2tbsp oil

2 eggs

500g flank steak thinly sliced

3 tbsp of kecap manis (This is a thick sweet soy sauce, can substitute with soy sauce mixed with a little brown sugar.)
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

200g bean sprouts

1/4 tsp pepper

lemon wedges to serve

Methods:

Heat oil over med heat, add 1tbsp oil and fry eggs. remove and slice.

Heat oil over high heat and add 1 tbsp oil; and fry beef until brown. remove and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium and fry noodles for 2 mins. Combine Kecap manis, soy and fish sauces. Add to the noodles with bean sprouts and pepper. Stir fry for 2 mins. Return egg and beef to the wok and cook for another 3 min. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

This curry noodle is lovely. I would say it’s a cross between curry and mee siam. The gravy has lovely curry flavour but not as thick as curry and it has very nice lime taste to make the dish very special! The best part is it is very simple to make. Try it and you’ll love it.

Ingredients :

250g thin egg noodle
2tbsp oil
6 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 small chilli, chopped
2-3tbsp curry paste (I use Chng Kee’s curry paste)
350g chicken fillet cut into slices
2tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp grated palm sugar
3 cups coconut milk
1tbsp lime juice
1c chicken broth (I love heinz chicken broth)
Spring onions and coriander for garnish

Method:

Heat wok over high heat and fry garlic, chilli and shallots for 2 mins. Stir in curry paste. Add chicken and fry until it changes colour.

Stir in fish sauce, palm sugar, coconut milk, lime juice and broth. Simmer for 5 mins, do not boil!

Cook noodles in boiling water. Drain and divide noodles into 4 bowls and spoon in chicken mixture. Garnish with coriander and spring onions.

Above is a picture of the Thai noodle.  I use Kee’s curry paste. The original recipe requires red curry paste but I couldn’t find it in any supermarkets so this is a good substitute. I also find it hard to get palm sugar so I use this orange-coloured brown sugar as substitute.

2nd recipe, works for me and taste hawker authentic.

For 2 to 4 pax

1) Peel the shell off the prawns and fry the shell in a small dash of oil. Add 4 cups of chicken stock or water after you smell the rich fragrance of the prawns. Leave it to boil to extract fully the essense of the prawns. Should be rich reddish brown in colour.

2)Cook yellow noodles in boiling water, after the noodle is cooked, wash it over with cold water and put aside.

3) Fry 2 eggs. Just throw in the egg to the wok and scramble it. Then when fried, leave it aside.

3) Fry garlic and sambal chilli(omit if you hate spice but i guess being Singaporeans, spice is not a prob). After garlic is a little brown, throw in noodles and fry. Mix well. Sprinkle a little bit of Thai Fish sauce and you should get a nice steam coming out. Throw in the other ingredients (prawns, sotong, chicken, egg etc) and fry with the noodle. After frying for a while to mix all the ingredients with the noodles, pour in the stock until you are happy with the wetness of the noodles. Mix it well and then cover it.

4) Wait for it to steam and you are ready to serve when the steam comes out. Open the cover and it will smell really good. The key is in the stock. If the stock is really rich, then the noodles should taste really good.

My well-used recipe - always requested during family gathering.

Fresh prawns - boil till just turned red - don’t worry if a little uncooked. Peel heads and shells, separate and put both aside. Leave the stock boiling

Streaky pork - rub with salt generously, best left overnight. Throw in piece of streaky pork into stock, until just cooked, again don’t worry if a little uncooked. Cut to small slices. Leave aside.

Take a piece of belacan (about size of 2 sugar cubes), grill until smoky, break up belacan to powder. Heat up wok, add garlic to oil. Do not brown too much otherwise it turns bitter. Thrown belacan powder, prawn heads and shells into work, fry till shells and heads are dry and crispy. Sometime I pound the crispy heads and shells, sometimes I put into blender, then pour in the stock used for boiling prawns and pork. Boil for half an hour until all taste from prawns heads and shells are extracted. Add salt and fish sauce to taste. Remove and throw away the shells, keep stock aside.

Heat oil with plenty of chopped garlic (I like), throw in yellow noodle and thick beehoon, fry thoroughly. Add stock and cover for 3 minutes. Add more stock if neccesary. Add in a few beaten eggs. Add prawns and pork. Lastly add bean sprout. Fry until right liquid consistency and starchiness. Serve with belacan chili and squeezed lime juice.

You don’t even need any MSG, believe me, it’s that good. And it taste authentic, simply because it is. My reverse engineering.