One of the dishes we regularly have to go with rice is stirfried kailan. With ginger and fish slices, of course. I haven’t cooked this in a while which is why I’m kinda bringing it up now, as a sort of reminder to myself to cook this delicious dish soon .

What you need are:

• 2 fish fillets, diced into fairly big chunks
• 5 stalks kailan, or kale - cut the stems to 2-inch lengths and the leaves to 1-inch lengths
• 1-2 knobs ginger, sliced thinly
• siew heng zhao, or Chinese cooking wine
• 2-3 Tsp oyster sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

I typically heat up a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in my wok, then throw in the ginger slices. In Chinese cooking, you need to use high heat and be quick to the stirfy. So I swish the ginger around for maybe 30 seconds and then add the fish fillet followed by oyster sauce. The ginger gets rid of the fishy taste.

I keep frying to let the fish soak up all that flavor before adding the stems. Stems take longer to cook so that’s why they go in first. At this  point, I add a good splash of water as I like it with lots of gravy. It’s up to you. I cover the wok for about 2 minutes so that as the water boils, it cooks through the stems.

Then in go the kailan leaves. Give everything a good mix. You should see the kailan leaves soften. After that, give it a good drizzle of siew heng zhao, or Chinese cooking wine all round. Add salt and pepper to taste. Give it another good stir and it’s ready to serve.

What I really love about this dish is the aroma of the wine and that it’s healthy too, certainly not one that will send you scrambling around for a fat burner review after you eat it. So give it a try.

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Today’s the fifth day of my 30-day vegetarian diet. Woo-hoo, 25 more days to go and I’m doing great so far - no meat, no seafood, no eggs. I’m constantly hungry but I guess that means I just have to graze more often, moo-oo .

#1. blueyes’ question. What’s your favorite seafood recipe?

It would be clam chowder but I’ve never tried cooking it so I don’t have a recipe for it.

#2. Italian Ice. Like it, love it or leave it?

No idea what it is but I found out it’s pretty much like gourmet ice cream so I think I should like it.

#3. What’s your favorite crunchy food? (anything - pickles, chips, fruit, etc.)

All of the above.

#4. Have you ever eaten so much of something that you felt or got sick?

Lately the kids have been dragging me to Carls Jr every weekend. I swear I don’t want to see another burger for the next few months. I can only take so much of a good thing .

Four Foods on Friday is fun to play. Wanna join us? Just hop over to valmg’s blog at Fun, Crafts and Recipes and grab the details.

Many years, when I worked in the city, my colleagues and I would drive out for lunch to Ampang which is famous for their yeong tow foo, or stuffed tofu. Well, that was years ago and although Ampang Yong Tow Foo franchises and copycats have sprung up everywhere, I haven’t eaten any in a long time.

Recently I bought fresh yeong tow foo at the market. They are fresh and sold loose so I get to make my own selection. They’re usually sold at the grocery stores in prepacked trays but they cost a bit more and you don’t get to pick what you want.

I bought lots of different shaped fishballs at the market the other day. The big fried ones and the white comma-shaped ones are a hit with my kids. I only bought 3 stuffed chillies for myself .

The long dark brown ones are foo pay, or soy sheets wrapped around fish and meat paste. I like those too. And of course, I must have my hot chilly dipping sauce. We typically eat yeong tow foo on its own without rice or noodles, so this is absolutely a no-carb meal!

You might not find me driving into town to buy a Sony Vaio but I might for a taste of yong tow foo once in a while. In this case, I don’t even have to drive into the city, I can have them in the comfort of home.

If you have time, you can actually make your own fish paste at home for fish balls and to stuff the soy pockets yourself. Yeong tow foo is great for parties and potlucks because everyone loves ‘em, kids and adults. Just be sure you have different dipping sauces for kids (tomato sauce) and adults (chilly sauce).

I always have a stash of instant noodles in my pantry for ‘emergencies’ like when I need something quick to eat before I head out to Chinese wedding dinners which typically start like 2 hours late !

Instant noodles are convenient and they’re sold at the Asian grocer. But I find the flavoring overly salty sometimes, so what I usually do is not use all of the flavoring provided, or pour away some of the soup and add more water to dilute it.

I came across these non-fried instant noodles the other day. I’ve never noticed them at the store before but apparently they’re healthier than the ones that are fried and therefore contain more saturated fat.

Anyhow this is the jumbo pack I bought which comes without the packets of flavoring inside. Control freak that I am, I’m going, great, now I get to call the shots on what goes in !

Right, so this is what I made - a nutritious kon low, or dry instant noodle. For the seasoning, I put these into a bowl:

• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of light soy sauce
• a good drizzle of cooking oil
• a good drizzle of sesame oil

In a pot of water, I blanch a few stems of choy sum, or mustard greens. When done, put it into my bowl with the seasoning.

Using that same pot of water, I boil two different types of fishballs (the small round ones and the larger fried ones) and seafood tofu and throw those into my bowl as well. The seafood tofu is actually pretty tasty and come in small rectangular pieces.

I bring a fresh pot of water to boil and leave the noodles in for 3-4 minutes to cook. The instant noodles come in thin rectangular blocks (see first photo). Two blocks is enough for a meal for one person.

Scoop the cooked noodle into the bowl and mix well with the seasoning and other ingredients. Top generously with chopped spring onions, cilantro and fried shallots, and we’re ready to dig in. Oh, and don’t forget the fresh chopped bird’s eye chilly or jalapeno.

Sometimes I dread weekend grocery shopping because of the cart collisions, crazy checkout lines and long faces. The past few weekends have been surprisingly pleasant though. I don’t see anyone tearing their hair out and needing treatment for hair loss !

Okay, so that’s that. On with my answers to this week’s questions .

#1. What’s your favorite cereal?

Quaker Oatmeal Squares. I think it’s made with shredded wheat, very yummy even without milk and I love that it fills us up. The kids love to crunch on them as a snack when we’re running around their school activities.

#2. What do you use to flip food on the stove?

No prizes for guessing……… chopsticks.

#3. What’s your favorite type of donut?

Er, the kind that isn’t laden with sugar .

#4. Share a rice recipe.

I often make this very simple pan-fried fish fillet with butter rice for lunch. It’s got a bit of everything and it certainly looks much more appetizing than white rice.

Want to play Four Foods on Friday? Simple, go over to valmg’s blog at Fun, Crafts and Recipes and grab the details.