Chap Chye and Teochew Steam Fish

SIL was asking if I know how to cook chap chye cos it's Renice favorite dish so I went to search for its recipe and came to know that this dish is a popular vegetarian dish to consume during Chinese New Year and also Vesak Day. Since we have most of the dried ingredients stock up readily, I could whip this up easily tonight and with another dish of steam fish, it's another easy meal.

Chap Chye
Ingredients - Serves 4

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 5 slices ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 50g red fermented bean curd (aka ‘nam yee or 豆腐乳/ tau cheo (豆酱)
• 250g napa cabbage (aka “Wong Bok”or 大白菜), cut to smaller pieces
• small piece of fat choy (fa cai/发菜) - I omitted this
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 50g bean curd sticks (腐竹)
• 15g dried lily buds (金针) - I omitted this
• 5 dried Chinese mushrooms
• 30g ‘tang hoon’ (粉絲)
• 4 pieces dried black (wood ear) fungus (木耳)

Sauce (A)

• 2 tbsp vegetarian oyster-flavoured sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2/3 cup water

Directions

1. Soak Chinese mushrooms, black fungus, fat choy and lily buds in individual bowls of hot water. When softened, drain the water. Remove mushrooms stems, squeeze out excess water and cut to half. Remove the hard portion on the underside of the fungus. Then, cut the rest of the fungus into smaller pieces. For the lily buds, tie each bud in a knot (to prevent fraying)
2. Soak bean curd sticks and tang hoon in individual bowls of water till softened. When the beancurd sticks turn soft and paler shade, cut to smaller pieces.
3. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry chopped garlic & ginger till fragrant. Then add nam yee and mash/chop it to smaller pieces with the spatula.
4. Add cabbage and stir fry till softened (a few minutes).
5. Add Chinese mushrooms, black fungus, lily buds, fat choy and beancurd sticks along with the Sauce (A). Bring to a boil then cover with lid and let the vegetables simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Anytime the water runs dry, you can top up with hot water.
6. When the vegetables are cooked and the water is reduced, add tang hoon and stir the pot to allow the tang hoon to absorb the sauce. Off the flame and serve with steamed rice.

Mixed Vegetables Stew

Teochew Style Steam Fish
Ingredients:

• Any fresh fish for steaming - cleaned
• 2-3 sour plums
• Some salted vegetables - sliced
• Dried mushrooms - soaked till soft and sliced
• Tomatoes - cut into wedges
• A few slices of ginger
• A little cooking oil
• A little or a bowl of water/stock depending on your preference

Method :

1. Place a few slices of ginger on plate as base and put the fish on top.
2. Arrange all ingredients on the fish including the stomach.
3. Steam fish on high fire for 8-12 mins depending on the size of fish.
4. Garnish and serve while hot.

Teochew style Steam Fish

Steam Tofu with Minced Pork

I felt quite bad as I was supposed to cook for my nieces on Hari Raya but I ended up in a majong session after work. So to make it up, I decided to put on my apron today. As usual, I will always look for easy recipe so that it will not take me hours in the kitchen to whip up a meal. Ok, let's see what I have cooked.

1. Steam Tofu with Minced Pork
2. Pork Chop
3. Stir-fry French Beans
4. Nasi Lemak Fish

Steam Tofu with Minced Pork
Ingredients:

• 1 tube of silken tofu (cut into 6 equal pcs)
• 100g of ground pork

Seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• Spring onion - chopped
• Dash of white pepper
• 1 tbsp of corn flour (I omitted this coz there isn't any at home)

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce/Chinese wine
• 1 tsp Light Soya sauce
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 3 tbsp Water
• Dash of Sesame oil
• 1 tsp Cornflour - Thickener (I omitted this cos there isn't any at home)

Step by Step:

1. Mix minced pork with seasoning and set aside.
2. Lay tofu in a dish and place some minced pork on top of the tofu.

1. Steam tofu on high heat for about 10-25 minutes or till meat is cooked.
2. Drain the excess water collected from steaming
3. Bring sauce to boil except thickener.
4. Gradually add thickener and stir well.
5. Pour the sauce over the tofu and serve.

Topped with fried shallot

Pork chop

(Serves 3-4)

My mom used to fry the pork chop with cream crackers and I love it since young. I just do it my way with whatever I have in the dressing cabinet.

Ingredient:

• 4 pcs of boneless pork chop (ba tau in hokkien)
• 1 egg - beaten
• About 6 pcs of cream cracker - crushed

(A)

• Light soya sauce
• Dash of Pepper
• 1 tbsp of Chinese wine
• 1 tsp cornflour - (I omitted this)

Method :

1. Slice the pork chop into "butterfly" shape, then use the back of knife to tenderize it.
2. Marinate tenderized pork with (A) for a few hours. However, I leave it overnight.
3. Heat enough oil for frying.
4. Dip pork in beaten egg then coat it evenly with crushed cream cracker.
5. Swallow fry till lightly browned over medium fire.
6. Cut into slices and serve while hot.

Notes :

1. To crush the cream cracker, simply place them in a clean plastic bag and use a rolling pin/glass bottle etc to crush it.
2. Bread crumbs may be used in place of cream cracker.
3. A small can of baked beans can be added if desired.

4 simple dishes!

Guess I need to polish up my cooking skill in order not to over fry the garlic diced. The french bean almost turned out to be a disaster but luckily no "char ta" smell. Overall, we finished up all the dishes!